The publication of A Guernsey Double is imminent. I have been experiencing a weird kind of anti-natal anxiety. I know Richard went through the same thing a few days ago. Not at all what I expected to feel. It’s a kind of vulnerability I suppose.

I asked an old friend Mario Petrucci, who has had several books published, and he said by email: Those anxieties you speak of are natural. We spend so long in the wilderness we forget how food tastes. Enjoy it while it’s there!