Hello lovely subscribers!

We are motoring through November, and I cannot believe that 2024 is slipping away so quickly. I remember getting my driving licence many years ago, as a teen, and seeing that it was up for renewal in 2020. I never imagined I’d get this far! By the time this drops into your mail, I will be recovering from knee replacement surgery, so on a wing and a prayer, I am looking forward to racing around again in the new year.

NEW NOVEL

I am thundering through the final draft of The Cruise Club, which will be published in 2025. So many of you have asked for another ‘cruise’ book, to follow The Cruise, and my publisher agreed. You can expect to see this book online, in bookshops and on a supermarket shelf very soon. There is a new set of characters, taking in the Mysteries of the Mediterranean on the familiar Diamond Star ship, but comedian Dicky Delaney is back, alongside Fran and Sid Cartwright from The French Cookery School.

GIVEAWAY 

I have a lovely GIVEAWAYin this newsletter. To enter, simply comment on my Facebook page (or, for those not using Facebook, email me below) saying why you’d like to go on a cruise. A draw will occur on 15th December, in plenty of time for Christmas. The gift is a personalised box of Lily O’Briens chocolates and a signed copy of The Cruise. 

Good luck!

Caroline James Author Facebook

caroline@carolinejames5683@yahoo.co.uk

CANADA

I travelled to Canada in October to meet my beautiful new granddaughter, Mika Mei, and my lovely Willow, Mika’s sister. It was a great family holiday. Willow and I made a Halloween house and piping took forever, but she loved the result.

Ontario is beautiful in the fall. I enjoyed exploring quaint towns and gorgeous farmer’s markets, and my favourite pastime was browsing antique and vintage fairs.

HALLOWEEN Halloween is crazy in Canada, and we had two days of trick-or-treating. It is fascinating to see how much effort is put into decorating houses, and the community spirit and warm welcome that the children receive is heartening.

I found this fabulous model of a cruise ship which lit up. I would have loved to have brought it home and styled it as the Diamond Star (from The Cruise), but it weighed very heavy and would have been impossible.

TORONTO ZOO

We went to Toronto Zoo, a wonderful experience, and met Charles, a fifty-two-year-old Western lowland silver-backed gorilla. Charles was very sleepy and, unlike other gorillas around him, didn’t move around. We were terribly saddened to learn that Charles died the next day, and the initial diagnosis was heart failure. Given that the life expectancy of most Western lowland gorillas is between thirty and forty years in the wild, it is a real testament to the zoo for the care he received that this gorgeous creature had such a long and happy life. RIP, Charles – you will be sorely missed.

FREE READ

If you want a quick read, JUNGLE ROCK is currently FREE! But only for a few more hours…. Please snuggle down, put your feet up and enjoy a romp with much-loved characters Jo and Hattie as Jo’s son Zach becomes a contestant in a reality TV show down under.

99P BARGAINS Don’t forget that THE SPA BREAK and THE FRENCH COOKERY SCHOOL are currently at a bargain price of 99p each in the UK. For later-life comedy and fun, fill your boots with reading!

TALKS I’ve wrapped up my talks for 2024 and will start again in mid-January 2025. Thank you to everyone who comes to listen to me. I hope I inspire and entertain in some small way. It’s so good to get out and meet everyone.

RECENT RECOMMENDED READS

I’ve really enjoyed these three books. I realised I’d read the Jo Jo Moyes a good while ago but still enjoyed it immensely. Have you got any recommendations? Do drop me a line 🙂 

INTRODUCING ATTICUS…

Christmas is fast approaching, and given that my knee is recovering, we won’t be setting off with Venus and heading to the sun this winter. I shall miss my Christmas day swim in the Mediterranean and enjoying walks with Fred, the Westie, on a sunny beach, but there’s always another year.

I’ve written a book called Atticus Arnott Goes Camping, which tells the story of Atticus, a seventy-year-old who sets off to Spain in his vintage Westfalia Camper with his collie dog called Ness. I love this book and can’t wait to share Atticus’s travels with you in 2025 – watch this space!

Wherever you are in the world, I hope this finds you safe, secure, in good health and happy. As always, lovely subscribers, thank you for all your support. I love my job, and your kind words and messages keep me going when my mind is blank, and I can’t write another word. Your encouragement means so much and helps me write on.

As Winston Churchill said, ‘When you find a job you love, you’ll never work again.’ I hope you found yours. With my love Caroline xx

BOOKS BY CAROLINE JAMES