Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Somebody reads it


Harry Patterson (aka Jack Higgins) of The Eagle had Landed fame, with the author at Waterstones in St Hellier at last Saturday's book signing of Ministry of Defeat.

We had a long, interesting chat and the man then queued up at the till and bought the book. The photograph was his idea, and the photographer Ian Le Sueur later presented me with a print, in a brass frame. For all the evil in this world, there are still some nice people around. I was really touched.

At least we sold a few copies, and had the buzz of seeing the book in the shop window. I would be lying if I said the book was going well – it isn't, although it has covered its costs. Interestingly, we were joined by a young soldier, an Iraq "veteran", who had "been there" for six months. He has spent the entire tour in Basra Air Station.

However, I am not part of the gilded circle of correspondents who have tramped the foreign fields and thus claim the cachet of being there, so the book has not made the break-through I would have liked. But, I am told, it has been – and is being – read in high places (remarkably so) and there is some small comfort in that.

All I have to do now is explain to Mrs EU Referendum why I spent six months of solid writing, for a pittance that did not even pay the Council Tax ... not that I have paid it yet, although that is another story. Her name is on the summons, so she gets banged up in the nick, not me.

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