‘If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?’

It’s funny how the first flowers of the year – crocuses, daffodils, aconites -seem especially vivid in colour. Are they really brighter than other flowers, or do they just strike us that way because our eyes have gradually adapted to the long drabness of winter? I found these gorgeous things in the park up the road.

If you would like to read the excerpts from ‘Out of Silence’ in today’s Guardian, click here.

The Guardian is publishing excerpts from Out of Silence in the Review section on Saturday 20 March. I’ll post the link on Saturday when I know it.

In the meantime, many thanks to everyone who silently toasted my book from several different countries and three continents on Thursday evening at my ‘virtual book launch party’. It was rather a special feeling at 18:00 hours. I was with a friend in the Royal Academy of Arts, aware that  there were only two of us getting ready to raise a glass (or a home-made iced muffin, to be truthful). Nevertheless at the appointed moment, thinking about you all and hoping that some of you were thinking about me, I had what Shakespeare might call a ‘wondrous strange’ feeling.  It was very fun, in a subtle kind of way.  And actually, it was at least as much fun as some of the real book launches I’ve attended. The whole experience reminded me of Hamlet’s observation: ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’

Thursday’s the day when Out of Silence is officially published. As I haven’t managed to organise a book launch party, how about a virtual book launch that day?

At 18:00 hours (UK time) on Thursday 18 March, I’m going to raise a glass to toast my readers, wherever they are. If you’d like to take part in my cyber-launch, please join in by raising something at the same time – not necessarily a glass of wine, but maybe a cup of coffee, a biscuit or a square of chocolate. 18:00 in London will be 19:00 hours in Paris, 14:00 in New York and Toronto, and 11:00 in San Francisco, if I’ve understood US Daylight Saving Time correctly. Let the virtual world ring with the cheerful clinking of imaginary cups and glasses!

Here I am in Paris, sitting on top of the concert hall where the trio made its Paris debut this week in a concert broadcast live by Radio France Musique. I’m sitting by IM Pei’s celebrated glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Musée du Louvre. Underneath the pyramid is a complex of foyers and lecture spaces including the ‘Auditorium du Louvre’ where we played. Strange to think that it’s taken this long to be invited to play in Paris, which is now only 2 hours and 20 minutes away from London by train, yet is separated from London by more than the English Channel. We found the Paris audience delightfully warm-hearted, and hope to meet them again soon.