Literary Heroine returns to China

You know how wierd it is when different groups of friends meet each other.... well I have the same feeling with characters in books.  The Conquest Series starts within living memory of the end of my second novel, Passing Under Heaven when Hastings was just a twinkle in the author's imagination.   

Its a lovely idea that the main characters - Godwin and Orchid, as I called her in my novel - might have met up.  She would have been an old lady then, so perhaps it would have been better if she met Wulfnoth, or Godwin's grandfather, whoever he was...  A story there perhaps?!  It would of course be much more interesting if they met as youngsters.  In fact, Kendra and Orchid would have a lot in common - though Orchid seemed to tend towards the self-destructive so it might have all ended messily with jade wine cups getting thrown.   

One thing I can be sure of - these characters would certainly have enjoyed a night of wine and poetry.  They also have a lot in common.  None of them know it but they all come at the end of an epoch in thier respective countries: Orchid in the Tang Dynasty, and Godwin at the end of Anglo Saxon England.

Anyway!  Digressions aside.  I'm delighted to announce that Passing Under Heaven has come home and is coming out in Chinese, published by the Anhui Literature & Art Press.  It's been translated by Professor Zhang Xihua, Dean of the School of Applied English, Beijing International Studies University and as soon as I get my hands on a copy I'll post the cover up here.

A English book about a Chinese poetess, translated back into Chinese: now I wonder what that looks like?!

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I've had something of a chequered history with my books and China.  My first novel was banned by the Chinese censors back in 2002, so this is a moment of small personal triumph over the book burners and men with black pens.