Mister Woodreeve’s Reflection now has over a hundred supporters – and the novel is 75% funded! It feels like we’re really going to hit the target by Monday 9 May. Last chance to add your own pledge to support publication!

Lots of people have asked me where the novel is set, so here’s a picture clue. Forty miles or so west of Newcastle, between Hexham and Haltwhistle, a stream like this one tumbles into a river, which flows through a wooded valley into the South Tyne at the edge of a village. The village looks a lot like Haydon Bridge – and a bit like Bardon Mill – and you may begin to recognise a stretch of the river, or even particular houses. But then the river flows south instead of north, the village grows or shrinks – losing a church or gaining a railway station – and the houses change shape or appear in quite different places. This imagined corner of a real part of Northumberland forms the main setting for Mister Woodreeve’s Reflection.

Handing out flyers at Hexham Book Festival, I’ve met several supporters – it’s been good to be able to thank them personally. One or two have even pledged a second time to help keep the momentum going. What kind friends and neighbours we have!