My new book in my first-ever series launches next week, and in its honor, Bethany House Publishers has created a dedicated mini-site for the series, at TalesFromIvyHill.com. I’m excited. The website offers: a color map of the village a detailed character list (which readers often request) photos of village buildings videos (me introducing the series, and on location in “Ivy … [Read more...]

Those of you who regularly read this blog know that I set my books in England, travel there when I can, and often post about topics of interest to other Anglophiles like me. But today, on US election day, let me state for the record: I may have a crush on England, but I am in a deeply-committed relationship with America. :) And although I shake my head at and mourn some of the things going on … [Read more...]

I recently asked Facebook friends to name their favorite British series. Most listed television series or mini-series, and together they created a fabulous list and helped others discover great shows they might have missed along the way. The thread read like a (Dr.) Who’s Who of favorite British series. I learned about several series I hadn’t known about either. Only problem was, after … [Read more...]

Over the years, readers have asked me offer a trip to England, so we could travel together to some of my favorite places and see settings from my books. It is something I thought I’d like to do a distant “someday.” But when a friend in the group travel business asked to meet with me about putting together such a trip, it seemed like “someday” might be sooner than I thought! Now I’m excited to … [Read more...]

When we were in England recently, my husband kindly let me dress him up for the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, as I wrote about in my last post. So when he asked to take a day or two to visit a place he was interested in, I of course agreed. Poor guy had it coming!   He wanted to go to a town called Witney in Oxfordshire. He is interested in the history of the "point blankets" once made … [Read more...]