A full day with beautiful weather.

A phoner with Australia starts things off, then it’s off to the lobby to meet with the team from Little Brown. And Ashford’s huge and gorgeous Irish Wolfhounds. They’re just magnificent, sweet, friendly, perfectly behaved. (The dogs, though the team qualifies, too!) I wish Griffin had been with me as he’d have been thrilled.

Clara, Laura and Gina are here from England to run the show today, and I think it bodes most excellently for the day when they have a Diet Coke waiting for me!

A couple quick photos, then an interview on site for The Guardian to run next February—at the launch of In Death’s 50th book.

Allison (the reporter) and I have a mutual love and admiration for Mary Stewart’s works. More boding well as we both, obviously, have great taste in books.

It’s an easy half hour or so before we shoot some videos for my UK publisher.

Jason and Kat have put the scripts on Jason’s laptop, and this works really well. The vid guy has everything set up, and we get it done in good time.

Griffin joins us now and steals the show in his tartan outfit from Edinburgh. Honestly, that level of cute might be illegal in some jurisdictions.

We have a break now, so Jason, Kat and I take His Cuteness for a walk to admire the fabulous trees, take in those blue skies, and down to the stables.

The horses bring on the squeals and delight—and they’re also sweet and well-behaved as we give them some strokes.

We watch a stable girl try to lure a horse in the pasture, holding the rope behind her back. He’s like: Excuse me, do I look like a git? I know what you’ve got there. He runs, dodges, pauses, trots away again—I think he laughs a few times. And defeats her.

We walk back to get some food into the boy before the event.

Down to The Lodge we go where the publishing and Ashford teams have everything set. I meet the delightful Kate Kerrigan, who’ll hold the conversation with me. My Laura’s already told me about the small world aspect. Laura’s Mayo cousin and Kate are pals. 

We have time to sit outside in the gorgeous and chat before it’s time to begin.

Griffin meets young Leo, and the two boys hit it off. I’m told they play in the gravel with Griffin set on moving said gravel to the path, and Leo patiently putting it back again.

Inside, readers have refreshments before taking their seats. We have a full house, and that’s just lovely. Lovelier yet, everyone’s so happy and cheerful. I hope we give them a good experience, because it’s certainly one for me to be here, to have this chance to meet so many readers who’ve come from far and near.

Kate makes it a genuine conversation—I like that it’s not just a question, an answer, next question. We talk, and that’s nice, nicer we have considerable in common.

There’s good energy to the day, the room, which makes it all fun for me.

We open it up for questions from the readers, and maybe it’s the Irish vibe, but that’s conversation, too. Easy, enjoyable—and I hope informative when it was meant to be.

I’m delighted and astonished to learn a young woman moved to Ireland after reading Born In Ice. She met her husband here, and found her place. Another woman moved here from Arizona.

Another woman, originally from Poland now lives in Edinburgh, and in the next small world department, works in the Starbucks where Jason and Kat got coffee several times.

I love the way paths cross.

We end with a signing, and everyone is so patient. (Note from Laura: books provided by Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop) This gives me time to have bits of conversation one-on-one. Or two-or-so-to-one as we have a lot of Mums and Daughters, lots of sisters, lots of friends who’ve come together.

It’s wonderful, beyond satisfying for me to feel like part of their relationships through my books.

My Laura has given the UK team the basic set up, as we use at Turn The Page for signings. So they’ve got post-it notes with names on the books, and Jason’s beside me to keep the flow going while Clara takes photos.

It’s not only smooth from my standpoint, but fascinating to hear where everyone’s come in from. Dublin and France, the UK, The Netherlands, County Kerry (very near where we stayed) Clare, not far from our land there, Limerick and Cork and on and on. 

I meet some ladies who’ve stayed at Inn BoonsBoro in this lovely small world.

At some point during the signing, the skies open to rain, then it clears again so the green shimmers and the boats in the Corrib ride on blue.

An altogether wonderful day, and so many thanks for it to Clara, Gina, Laura (my Laura, too!) to Kate,  to Ashford, The Lodge staff, and most especially to the readers who traveled to join the day and made it so warm and welcoming to me and my family.

I loved every minute.

We have to say our goodbyes—hope everyone traveled well and safe. A break before we have dinner at Cullen’s. Good food, good wine, good service. A glass front rotisserie oven where chicken turns and fascinates Griffin. A walk outside where a boy and his dad ride bikes and cause more happy for our boy. 

He’s been a jewel all day.

A walk back through the pretty air, and it’s not long before bed.

Workout done, and I had blue skies once more. A man shaping the pretty shrubs in the sunlight, a fire simmering and the window open to let in the fresh.

Kat tells me Griffin slept till seven—uncharted territory as she put it. A lot of socializing and being adorable wore him out. He’s as cheerful as ever this morning—though displeased I’m writing this blog instead of putting Shaun T on for his entertainment.

He’s going for a walk, and I may clean up and join him to grab more of the blue and the green. Kat and I plan to shop here at the castle later.

And later this afternoon, our Hawk Walk! 

Nora

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In today’s #randomkatness — the ladies’ warming spot of old restored to it’s historic look.

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A note from Laura: If you were at the event yesterday and have photos, make sure you tag them on social media:
for Instagram: @norarobertsauthor @jdrobbauthor
#thelodgeatashfordcastle
for Facebook: @noraroberts @jdrobbauthor @norarobertsjdrobb

Or email them to me at LMReeth@gmail.com and I’ll disperse accordingly.