So there I was, standing on the quayside, staring at the distant Scottish mainland, wondering if I knew anyone with a boat. And nerves of steel...
Pondering the uncertainties of island life, I texted the organisers of Woman’s Weekly’s Favourite Romantic Novel 1960-2010, for which my novel STAR GAZING was short-listed, telling them I might not make it to the champagne breakfast for short-listed authors as the last two ferries from the Isle of Arran had been cancelled due to bad weather. As it was, I’d miss my London
But after a tense couple of hours, the skies cleared, the wind dropped and Calmac declared that the MV Caledonian Isles would depart. Twelve hours later (oh, the joys of flying Easyjet!) I checked in to the New Cavendish Club in London
The following morning I met Trisha Ashley, fellow short-listee (EVERY WOMAN FOR HERSELF). Barbara Taylor Bradford was also short-listed with the legendary A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE, but she lives in New York
And then it was mingling time… I was handed a glass of champagne but I can't say I tasted it. This is how nervous I was: when they were offered, I said “No” to a tray of Danish pastries. But everyone liked the colour of my Oska top and said it suited me. (Memo to self: fix hair colour.)
I introduced myself to the Woman’s Weekly reader who’d won a trip to London
Then announcement time… OhGodOhGod… And the winner is… STAR GAZING!
Nooooooooooo!
But yesssss!
A beaming Katie Fforde presented me with the star-shaped crystal trophy and looked on while I improvised an incoherent speech, short on wit and long on gratitude. Applause, flash bulbs, refills… Dizzy with happiness and champagne, possessed of a sudden, ravening hunger, I looked round for that magnificent selection of Danish pastries…. Gone. Only crumbs left to bear witness to their brief existence.
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| Linda and Trisha Ashely |
Clutching my empty glass and my beautiful star trophy, I concluded that you can’t win them all.
