Welcome to House With No Name. I write about everything from books and films to education, family and France.
The news that children are being taught how to be happy made me unutterably depressed. Lots of schools across the country (Wellington College in Berkshire for one) are already giving happiness lessons – to help pupils banish pessimistic thoughts and cope with whatever life throws at them. I know the summer’s nearly over (apart from the current mini heatwave) and the economy’s a mess – but surely things aren’t so ...keep reading
Lauren Kate with two winged waiters. Image by Emma Davies. The party to celebrate the success of Lauren Kate’s mega-selling Fallen series was never going to be just any old Monday night bash. Hosted at Proud in Camden (my teenage daughter says it’s one of the coolest clubs in London) – it boasted winged waiters, scarlet petals strewn across the floor and a mannequin adorned in a gothic floor-length black ...keep reading
Sport is like Marmite. You either love it or hate it. I won a running race at primary school once and reached the heady heights of the netball team a few times but that’s the extent of my sporting prowess. Until recently, that is. My teenage daughter suddenly decided to join the local gym – run by the council, incidentally, and far better value than a posh one. After a ...keep reading
“If you want to write a novel, it’s never too late…” Those were the inspiring words from TV producer and novelist Daisy Goodwin when she gave the annual (and free) creative writing lecture at Oxford Brookes University last night (September 22). It was the first day of term for the university’s new creative writing students, who scribbled frantically in their notebooks and tapped away on laptops as she spoke. Over ...keep reading
“Good for Cheryl.” That was my instant reaction to the news that TV critics have given Cheryl Cole’s fleeting performance in The X Factor USA the thumbs-up. US reviewers saw previews of the opening episode before it aired this week and reckoned she was a better judge than her replacement, Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger. After her bout of malaria, her marriage break-up and then her ignominious exit from the ...keep reading
If you haven’t discovered Jane Fallon’s books yet, then trust me, you’re in for a treat. Her first, Getting Rid of Matthew, was touching, pacy and made me laugh out loud. While many heroines have a burning ambition to find a man, this one featured a woman who is desperate to ditch hers. She tries everything to convince her married lover that she’s had enough of him and his dirty ...keep reading
Today started off like any other day. Morning traffic trundling past the window at a snail’s pace. Son crunching his way through a bowl of Golden Grahams before school. Me trying to think of 101 reasons not to go to the gym – I signed up at a new one last week, nodded enthusiastically through my induction session and, er, haven’t set foot in the place since. Then something brilliant ...keep reading
I adore literary festivals. So I was over the moon when the organisers of the Chiswick Book Festival asked me to chair a talk on romantic fiction by bestselling writers Katie Fforde and Kate Lace. The session was called My Big Fat Summer of Love (an amalgam of their two latest titles – Summer of Love by Katie Fforde and Gypsy Wedding by Kate Lace) and covered everything from how ...keep reading
I’ve got a serious moving house habit. One that dates back to my childhood, when my father was in the RAF and we moved houses (sometimes countries) every year. I was always the new girl at school – the Billy No Mates who didn’t have a clue who to give my dinner money to or where to hang my PE bag. It’s a habit that’s stuck. We’ve moved house an ...keep reading
“Lonely Kate moves Pippa in.” That’s the headline emblazoned in pink and white lettering across the cover of this week’s Grazia magazine. The story inside claims that while Prince William works all hours as an RAF search and rescue pilot, his bride is becoming “increasingly isolated and bored” at home in remote North Wales. I’ve no idea how accurate the report is but if it’s true then I’m not surprised ...keep reading