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I hope you've all had a good summer, despite the appalling weather. At least it kept me in to write, rather than me whiling away the days sunbathing and gardening. I hope you are all enjoying Faith which was published in hardback in August - I'd love to hear your opinions about it as it was something of a change for me to have an older heroine. Some readers have informed me they fell in love with Stuart, the Scottish hero. I certainly did while dreaming him up.
Speaking of dreaming up new plots and characters, at the end of May I went off to Alaska and Canada to research my next book Gypsy, set during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890's. I picked this setting because it has all the things which set my heart racing: tough ruthless men and wild women battling through terrible hardships and danger.
With Gordon, my personal Scottish hero to protect me from any perils, we flew to Ketchikan in Alaska, and it became a real adventure as from then on it was boats, trains and little planes, through every kind of weather imaginable. As usual I found myself with all the wrong clothing, and the first thing I had to do was to buy a Cagoule, a garment I never imagined I would ever own! But at least it was pink! My leopard shoes looked a bit daft too while balanced on the float of a sea plane when the pilot put it down in a lake right out in the wilderness. That was incredible, hundreds of miles of nothing but snow covered mountains, fir trees and misty fiords, so beautiful and remote it took my breath away.
After an overnight ferry ride up the Inner Passage, we got to Skagway, dubbed 'The Wickedest Town on Earth' at the time of the Gold Rush. Not much wickedness now, but plenty of thrilling stories and characters still lingering to keep my imagination running at full tilt. We stayed in a guest house which was once a brothel, but it was more creepy than naughty.
In the 1890's, the prospectors had to scale the snow-covered Chilkoot Pass - 28 miles straight up the mountain side - lugging enough provisions and equipment on their backs to last a year. Gordon and I hiked a couple of miles of it in mild weather, but that was more than enough for us to visualise how horrendous it would have been in winter, and we opted to reach the top on the little rail road which was built at the end of the Gold Rush. That train ride was incredible. Death defying drops, hair pin bends, rickety looking bridges over rocky chasms. I saw my first black bear peeping from behind a tree, and I could very well imagine how tough it was for those brave but foolhardy people spurred on by the lust for gold. As we crossed the border at the top of the mountains into Canada, the snow was still some six feet deep and bitterly cold. I wonder how those prospectors felt when they found Dawson City and the gold was another eight hundred miles away? They had to build boats and sail the rest of the way down the Yukon.
I loved Dawson City. It has retained its pioneer town appearance, false wooden fronts on the saloons and shops, dirt roads, and still many working gold nines scattered around it. Despite being so close to the Arctic Circle it was hot and sunny, yet the banks of the Yukon were still piled up with ice. It had only broken up a few days before we arrived, and in winter it acts as a road for the dog teams. There are seven men to every woman, and I was so enthralled by the place (and those gold mining hunks) that I even found myself wondering if I could possibly brave forty degrees below in winter, and chance encounters with hungry grizzlies, in the interests of research. Reason prevailed, I enjoyed the beauty of the pine forests, the moose drinking in the shallows of the river, and the all night sunshine, but I thought I could write a far better book in the safety and warmth of my cottage back home.
Thinking on the courage of the women who made their way to the gold fields under such impossible conditions brings me to remind you about The Woman of Courage Award. As you may remember we started this award last year, and received hundreds of nominations from you about your friends and relations, ordinary women who have led extraordinary lives. Our winner was brave and wonderful Nicole Gallagher who has two very ill little girls who have had dozens of operations and need constant medical care. Nicole would be the first to say she's no different to any other mother with a sick child, but I know I would definitely have floundered and felt sorry for myself if I were in her shoes. All of us at Penguin are looking forward to hearing about the family holiday she won, and hope Nicole gets a well earned rest.
On September 10th we will be starting the second award, so I'm asking you all to think about someone brave, selfless and incredible that you know and nominate them. We want to hear all kinds of stories, women who have been dealt a raw deal in life, but have turned it around and made their friends and families proud of them. You can find an entry form in this week's 'love it!' magazine. Alternatively, you can visit the special website, at www.womenofcourageaward.co.uk
I've got to crack on now and write Gypsy. Look forward to hearing your views on Faith, and your nominations for the Woman of Courage Award.
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