Today my Nocturne book comes out in the US. I’m looking forward to having access to an enormous new group of potential readers.

Yes, I know it will be of interest only to a certain subset of them – but still an enormous subset!

I tell myself that a book like mine might provide a moment or two of respite from all the exciting stuff that’s going on in the US at the moment. With luck, it might function like a nocturne – a gentle way of turning one’s mind from the day’s activities to a more peaceful mood.

In the garden, a tree peony (which arrived mysteriously without our intervention) has produced its first flower of the spring (see photo). Surrounded by bluebells, it provides a cheering blaze of colour.