Sentimental Journey
On Thursday I took part in a splendid event at Heffer’s bookshop in Cambridge. On my way there I took the opportunity of stopping off in Ely where my new series of novels is set to pick up a bit more local colour. I walked around the marina and went into the cathedral. Peter and […]
One day teacher, whole life father
On 16th November the Sheffield School of Architecture held an event to celebrate Peter’s life and work. It was an amazing evening, attended by around 200 people. Peter’s ex-students, some of them professors themselves now, came from places as far afield as Korea and Taiwan. It was intensely moving to hear what an influence he had had […]
Mixed emotions
Today my new novel is out. I am delighted with the great job that my publishers have done and it was a thrill to get my advance copy. What a terrific cover! I couldn’t be more pleased with it. I turned to the acknowledgements and there at the end was this: ‘and last but not […]
The only Arts and Crafts fridge in Britain
Or anywhere else, possibly. In Footfall, the third of my Cassandra James novels, Cassandra’s husband opens the fridge and one of the plastic racks on the inside of the door comes away. A bottle of milk, a jar half full of olives, and a glass containing sticks of celery crash to the tiled floor. In […]
Something sensational to read in the train.
‘I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.’ In that respect and in that only I am like Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. I first began to write a journal when I wrote my first novel. I am now onto notebook 25. I don’t […]
Should writers marry other writers?
Writing is a solitary activity, involving long periods alone and periods of distraction even when you’re not alone. Thurber’s wife used to say to him ‘Dammit, you’re writing!’ when he sat abstracted at the dinner table. Other writers understand this. When it was one of his days for working at home, Peter and I would retreat […]
So touched by all the tributes and kind messages and emails
after the death of my husband, Peter Blundell Jones. Thank you to everyone. On the day of his funeral the blinds were drawn in the windows of the Architecture Department in the Arts Tower: a wonderful tribute. This obituary by Jeremy Till for the Architect’s Journal sums him up so well: www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/obituary-peter-blundell-jones-1949-2016/10010072.article#.V78Wi9pRaOw.twitter
Devastation
My dear husband, Peter Blundell Jones, father, writer, architect, scholar, died on Friday after a short illness.