Dear Winners

It's been a while since I updated you and plenty has been happening. The manuscript is coming on well and I'm excited to say that the illustrations have started rolling in. Seventy images is a lot, so it will take some time for our excellent artist, Emmy Lupin, to get through them all but it will be worth the wait.

One of the great things about the subject of the book is that women continue to break new ground while I'm in the process of writing. For example, Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa became the first woman to be Prime Minister of Samoa. You may wonder how visible a woman leader of this small nation is, but don't underestimate the significance. The Pacific area has the lowest rate of female representation anywhere in the world and includes three nations with no women in their parliaments at all. 

Fiamē said herself, "It’s role modelling, that it can be done.” I totally agree. Now if countries like Italy, USA and Japan could follow her lead, I'd like that very much, even if I have to add them into the book at the last minute!

I'll be back to update you in a couple of months when I hope to have news about fulfilling the rewards and how close we are to submitting the completed manuscript.

Thanks as ever for your support.

Ros