We had a great evening at the Philip Mould gallery in Pall Mall, surrounded by glamorous portraits, to launch the paperback version of Faith and Beauty in the UK. Midway through the party Philip mentioned his fascinating discovery that the building which houses his gallery had, in the late 1930s, been the official Nazi travel bureau for journeys to the German Reich. It felt as though the past was reaching out to tap us on the shoulder! Here I am pre-party with Philip and Catherine Mould.

Glamour alert! Here is the cover for the French edition of The Winter Garden, on sale from this month. Impossibly chic, isn’t it?

So looking forward to the Faith and Beauty paperback hitting the shops on March 10th. The cover is a slight change of direction, but I think it captures the tension of Berlin just on the eve of war. The planes in the sky look particularly ominous. The story is set in April 1939 and opens at Hitler’s fiftieth birthday parade, which was the biggest military parade Germany had ever seen. The plot surrounds the murder of a young woman who belongs to the Faith and Beauty society – a kind of Nazi finishing school for girls who wanted to polish their social skills before launching into marriage. And Clara finds herself tasked with her most daunting mission to date…..

I’m much looking forward to discussing Historical Fiction – what it is, how and why we write it – and talking about the world of Clara Vine in the appropriately historical surroundings of the National Liberal Club. All alongside the highly talented Emma Darwin and Mathew Plampin, courtesy of the Authors’ Club. Tickets here! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-fiction-and-the-writer-tickets-19358852850

This rather small room with knotted oak panelling and wrought iron fittings was where Eva Braun entertained her friends and held the wedding reception for her sister Gretl

I had a fascinating visit to Berchtesgaden, home to Hitler’s Berghof as featured in A War of Flowers (The Scent of Secrets in the US). Though the Berghof itself is no more, many of the other sites on the Obersalzburg mountain, where Goering, Speer, Bormann and other high ranking Nazis had their houses, still remain. There is an astonishing tunnel system beneath the mountain – several miles of it containing bunkers where the Nazis expected to see out the final battle, all amazingly well preserved and horribly claustrophobic. Then, far above is the Eagle’s Nest, the tearoom built for Hitler in 1938 by thousands of workers in just six months. It’s a fifteen minute bus drive up from the Berghof and visitors are carried by lift a mile up through the rock to the eyrie above. When you come out there is the tearoom were Eva Braun spent so much time, a conference room and not much else. The American army who captured it in 1945 decided not to blow it up, which was, I feel sure, the right decision.

I’m delighted to say that iBooks has chosen Black Roses as its Book of the Week between 19th and 24th October. This means you can download the novel free by clicking on the following link. Enjoy!

https://itun.es/gb/8P8jG.I

The cover for the next Clara Vine story has arrived! The title is Faith and Beauty (in the US it’s called The Pursuit of Pearls). It is 1939 and Clara faces fresh perils as the world slides into war, including what will turn out to be her most daunting and dangerous mission to date..

I will be talking at the Winston Churchill Theatre in Ruislip at 7pm, alongside Laura Wilson and Ben Fergusson as part of the As Crime Goes By Event. 1930’s Berlin to 1950’s London. Should be fun! Tickets available on the door.

http://www.hillingdontheatres.uk/index.php/events/as-crime-goes-by/