Sky above, a horizon of tree-lined banks around, the body immersed in natural water, without a whiff of chlorine, and preferably not another soul around – this for me is swimming!

Who doesn’t love an Agatha Christie Murder Mystery? A sleepy English village or university town; vintage cars and costumes on screen or in the mind’s eye;

Originally the word ‘cloister’ meant ‘a place of religious seclusion,’ a religious community, ‘cloistered’ or ‘closed off’ from the world.

Do you enjoy the BBC’s ancestry programme, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’

Six weeks of nursing a sprained ankle have amplified my gratitude for the ‘little piece of earth we call our own.’ So this month's nature notes are inspired by our garden.

My July book club assignment got off to a promising start. Adam Kindred, climatologist is set up, deliberately or accidentally, for the murder of a scientist working on a drug for big pharma. So far, so interesting.

The sunshine has broken through at last and over the next weeks, many of us will go on holiday, some travelling to far-flung shores and others to the nearest seaside resort.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is a master of irony in the English novel. It's one of the reasons I, along with countless readers, return to her books again and again. Did she detect irony in the pages of her Bible, I wonder?

Out of the corner of your eye, you spot movement in the treetop, you raise your binoculars and… it's gone! At times, bird-watching can be a series of near misses; but then there are golden moments when you manage to focus in on that barn owl or yellow wagtail and it takes your breath away.

At book club last night we discussed Tracy Chevalier's ‘Burning Bright’. It's a historical novel about William Blake, described by Brittanica as an English engraver, artist, poet and visionary. He’s most well-known for his poem, ‘Tyger, tyger burning bright’ hence the novel’s title.

The word scriptorium rolls off the tongue rather deliciously. It refers to a ‘writing room,’ especially in a monastery or abbey where monks used to copy manuscripts. The word derives from the Latin, ‘scribere’ to write, from which we also have ‘scribe.’

David and I are currently watching series 4 of ‘The Chosen’, streaming free on watch.thechosen.tv. It’s invigorating to watch Jesus speaking truth to power.

The unmistakable call of the cuckoo is an integral part of the British spring soundscape and I love to hear it. Despite my best efforts, I have never seen a cuckoo. But I live in hope.

I belong to a book club at my local library. If you love reading, have you ever wondered about joining a book club? I prevaricated for a long time, unsure about: the pressure of reading one book per month; reading books I hadn’t selected; the cost of purchasing the books.

Recently I’ve been repeatedly saying and writing the word ‘twelfth,’ as ‘The Twelfth Cross’ is the title of my novel, coming out on July 6th. It’s an unusual word – 4 consonants in a row, which occurs rarely in English.

Prayer plays a significant role in my novel, The Twelfth Cross (released July 6th.) I’m keen to see readers’ reactions to this, as I’m not marketing it as a Christian book. The historical setting is a help, as faith is a ‘given’ in the medieval period. But in my experience, many people are more open to the idea of prayer than to the idea of God.

We’ve hit on a great wildlife-watching spot for our working holiday in the Fen country this week. On our doorstep are ducks, moorhens, coots, partridge, pheasants and geese galore with goslings trotting around amongst noisy, fretful parents.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz comes to cinemas this month. Watching the trailer on social media has prompted me to find my copy and start reading it. I was given it a year or two back and it’s been languishing in the ever-growing ‘to read’ pile? Do you have one of those?

This week David and I are on a working holiday revisiting the locations of the Eleanor crosses in the Midlands. I’m making contacts for author events for The Twelfth Cross (coming soon) and also shooting footage to help promote the book.

Do you remember the 1991 film, Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman?