Publication day!

This must be the best moment of all - going into your local bookshop and seeing your book on the shelves. It's the culmination of several years' work, including the editing process and the months waiting for the right publishing slot for the book. I wrote the first words of this novel in November 2008, and the first draft was finished by spring 2010. That gives just some idea of the timescale involved.

So the day you first see it in the shops is very special indeed. This was in my local Waterstone's in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where manager Mike Cooper and his team are immensely supportive of any local authors, and have always done a fabulous job with my books. So cheers, Mike - and thanks again! Here he is with Rachel who helped me sign all their stock this morning. Sorry, you won't get a copy that isn't signed from here!

The other real buzz is seeing your book surrounded by other books by authors (real authors!) you admire - take a look at the company The Lantern is keeping! There's The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Isabel Allende, Jo Nesbo, Kristin Hannah...

And as I was walking down Mount Pleasant, I passed the British Bookshops store and was absolutely amazed and thrilled to see this window display (note proximity to the very wonderful Kate Atkinson)... To borrow from the phrase-making Wimbledon commentators on the BBC, what a dream of a day!

A huge, huge thank you to everyone at Orion who has brought The Lantern to this stage: Kate Mills, Susan Lamb, Malcolm Edwards, Jon Wood, Lisa Milton, Juliet Ewers, Sophie Mitchell, Jade Chandler, Louisa Gibbs, Andrew Taylor, Gaby Young, Anthony Keates, Jo Carpenter, Hannah Lewis and Lucie Stericker. And to my superb literary agent in London, Araminta Whitley, who found this book such a fantastic home.