Image: Visit FinlandI was three days (yes days!) old when my parents took me into a sauna. It was early spring, and we were visiting our summer cottage near Kangasala in the Häme province of Finland. By all accounts I loved the heat and gurgled away on my mother’s lap.I’ve been an avid sauna-goer … [Read more...]
FREE Weekend Offer!
Whilst I'm madly writing the sequel to The Englishman, I thought I'd give a treat: a summer weekend offer of my first novel. The Kindle copy will be FREE from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th July. The Englishman is a love story between a Finnish student and a British naval officer set in … [Read more...]
I’ve won an Alice Award!
I am absolutely thrilled and amazed that the lovely people at Displaced Nation have given The Red King of Helsinki an Alice Award! Here is what the Alice Award is all about: What's An Alice Award? Displaced Dispatch presents an “Alice Award” to a writer who we think has a … [Read more...]
Three films I want to see this autumn
One of the reasons I like September, and autumn in general, is that after a long, hot summer (ok, perhaps not in the UK) it's again time to go to the cinema. During the summer months it doesn't somehow seem right to step into a darkened room and spend two hours watching a large screen. But when the … [Read more...]
How I came to be in England – Part 28
In February 1983 I got a part-time job at Stockmann’s department store selling fabrics on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. My studies at the School of Economics were going well and I’d passed all the exams I took when I came back from Edinburgh. I continued to get good marks for my … [Read more...]