Andrew Clover (Photo, Maria Head.)

Andrew Clover is the author of the Dad Rules column published in The Sunday Times Style. Learn Love in a Week is his first adult novel. We talk about his brilliant solution to writers block, who’d he like around for dinner and his new novel…

Can you tell us about your novel?

It’s called Learn Love In A Week. It’s about a wife called Polly who chucks her husband, because he’s too grumpy. He has a week to win her back. The reason is she gets an offer that no woman could refuse… She meets a man called James Hammond. He’s her ex. He’s her Road Not Travelled. He’s also attractive and rich and in a week’s time he’s inviting her to his hotel in the countryside, because he wants to give her the job she’s always wanted. He also wants her. Should she accept? Her best friend says: ‘Go’, but she’s stuck with a skanky man who resists commitment the way a dog resists the bath. Polly’s husband says: ‘Stay… I can change.’ But can he? After ten years, can you learn to love again? And if you could, would you still choose your partner?

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Fayette Fox

Fayette Fox’s debut novel, “The Deception Artist” is literary fiction about childhood and make-believe, truth and lies. It was published by Myriad Editions in May 2013.

I needed to put my other interests aside. No cooking elaborate Thai curries, no crafternoons, or hikes in the English countryside. And no meeting up with friends for a drink. I had to focus. I had a novel to write. It was late October 2006 when a colleague told me about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a personal challenge to write a 50,000-word novel (about 175 pages) during November.

The longest thing I’d written for my Creative Writing BA was short stories and I hadn’t written fiction for several years. So writing a novel in a month sounded like fun. How do you plan a novel in two days? I’d been living in London, but decided to set my story in northern California in the late Eighties, the time and place of my own childhood. Less research, I figured. I dreamed up Ivy, a child protagonist with a vivid imagination who lies a lot.

I scribbled a few plot points on index cards and on November 1st, started writing. Every day after work, I worked on my novel. Focused and determined, nothing could stop me. Then a friend invited me to see a play with her. Sure, why not? Then another friend wanted to catch up over a drink. Before I knew it, I was slipping behind in my word-count. By the end of the month I’d written about 60 pages, way short of my goal, but also a personal record. (more…)

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Giovanna Fletcher

Giovanna very kindly had a chat with us as part of her blog tour. We had a chat about her typical writing day, how she combats writers block and how she’d like to eat cake and drink champagne with Marilyn Monroe… 

Can you tell us about your route to publication and the moment when you got your book deal?

I was encouraged to write by others after years of reviewing books for magazines and my blog. Sitting down and writing it was one thing, but nothing prepares you for the anxious wait once it’s been sent out to publishers. I loved the book, and so did my agent, but would anyone else? Luckily, yes! I was on the way to a wedding dress fitting when I got the news that Penguin had offered a deal… Needless to say it was quite a special day.

 Can you tell us a bit about your debut novel, Billy and Me?


Billy and Me follows Sophie May as she falls for teen heartthrob Billy Buskin – a huge movie star. Like most of us, Sophie comes with baggage, and as a result she doesn’t cope very well in BIlly’s world.

When starting a book, are you a planner or do you have an idea and just see where it leads?

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