England

In May I made my annual return to England, a trip that--as usual--combined time with family and friends, touring places familiar and new, visiting museums and galleries, other cultural activities, and researching the next novel. 

Dividing my countryside time between Somerset and Gloucestershire, I revisited some of the locations for A Change of Location and Sequins and Starlight. Mostly I was seeing special people and spending time in various villages and parish churches connected to my family history. Each one deserves a blog post of its own. 

One of my family's Somerset churches 

The Avebury standing stones, unchanged from my last visit

The roses everywhere were magnificent, at peak bloom. I spent a great deal of time in National Trust gardens and those at other historic locations.

The Queens' Garden, Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire

I found plenty of roses in London as well...

Hyde Park Rose Garden

One of the most delightful experiences was taking another Behind the Scenes Tour at the Royal Ballet. Every one is slightly different, which is why I repeat them, and so enlightening, and even affirming of the dance profession as depicted in Sequins and Starlight. That evening, I attended a performance of Onegin, one of my favourite narrative ballets--which of course explains why it's so important to Ellie in Sequins and Starlight!

Home of the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera

The auditorium before the performance

Fumi Kaneko danced Tatiana, Vadim Muntagirov was Onegin

Afterwards, I waited at the Stage Door to congratulate Gary Avid, who performed Prince Gremin

With Gary, at the Stage Door in Floral Street

There were many trip highlights, especially in London. We made a point of celebrating the release of Sequins and Starlight at the Ritz Hotel. The Rivoli Bar features in the story, it's where Ellie and Dan meet the first time, and return later. The bar also appears in A Change of Location.

In the Rivoli Bar

Rivoli Bar entrance

There's so much more I'd like to share, time permitted. The rest of this month will be extremely busy, I'm presenting at two writers' conferences, one regional (the 603 Conference an easy drive away) and one international (Historical Novel Society (Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.) My travel schedule has been extremely hectic since March: Chicago, Atlanta, England...) So after HNS, I'm storing my luggage for as long as I can! 

And writing. A lot.