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.’