Enthusiastic book buyers

A French bar, book lovers and my publication day – what a combination!

When Paperback Jan (Jan Smith) who runs the paperback exchange in the Deux-Sèvres urged me to have a mini-launch in France, I wasn’t quite sure.

Paperback Jan and author(!)

The bash at Waterstones Tunbridge Wells on 12 March was to be the official UK launch. Would anybody be interested here in France?

I needn’t have worried. I put out an invitation on various English groups’ websites and Jan spread the word during her February visits in the region.

Some buyers can’t take their eyes off the gorgeous cover!

The Bar de la Paix is where we have our monthly book club and where Jan brings her paperbacks each month. I’d been interviewed the week before by the Le Courrier de l’Ouest and a reporter from La Nouvelle République turned up on the day. Excellent.

Scarcely had I arrived than I was pounced upon by the reporter and by people waving euros in my face! It was mayhem, but wonderful mayhem.

The lovely owners of the Bar de la Paix Marie-Claire (left) and Marie-Paul (right)