The first week of the book tour was hectic. The intention was to visit new areas so we started in Bristol with Waterstone’s and then visited a school with Chepstow Books before touring South Wales for the first time. All went well and despite living out of a suitcase, staying at a different hotel every night, it was enjoyable to meet so many readers for the first time and also bring the series to the attention of new audiences.
After Wales we visited a London school before catching the train to Paris. I have talked to French children before but this was the first time I had answered questions in a school there. I had an interpreter but the questions were sometimes difficult and probing – those French children were experts on the books! But I’m sure through a misunderstanding that I answered one of them incorrectly. So here I’ll put the record straight.
How can Bony Lizzie be described as the ‘aunt’ of Alice and then later said to be her ‘mother’? So do the books contain a serious mistake?
I won’t say too much, not wishing to spoil the story for new readers but those familiar with the Wardstone Chronicles will understand. There is no mistake!
On my return to London I met my editor, Ruth Knowles, and we discussed the development of the series. By now most of you will know that the Wardstone Chronicles is scheduled to end with the publication of the final book in October 2013. So will Tom Ward and the Spook die? Will Alice survive? And what about Grimalkin – what will be her fate? The answer is that even I don’t yet know the answers to those questions. I ‘discover’ the plot and allow the story to tell itself. So we must all wait and see!
The first night after leaving London I was awakened in the middle of the night by the hotel fire alarm. I spent half an hour outside waiting for the fire brigade to check if it was safe to go back to bed. They found no fire but there had been a mysterious triple fault on the alarm system. No doubt it was the invisible boggart that follows me around sometimes causing posters to fall off classroom walls whilst I am speaking!
So the tour continues. I’m off to visit witch country in Pendle now and then head north to Bill Arkwright territory north of Morecambe Bay!
Best wishes,
Joseph Delaney
