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Nice welcome back from my North American trip, which was great: thank you Random House - who knew Toronto could be such fun? It's the first time I've seen CROSSED BONES appear as THE TENTH GIFT, and I have to say it's a handsome package, more sumptuous and serious-seeming than the UK cover, which errs a little on the side of bodice-ripping. Amazing to see the books piled up in the stores and even, rather bizarrely, on the side of a distributor's truck. Thanks, too, to Ben McNally for hosting the rather surreal and extraordinary literary brunch which I shared with the charming Misha Glenny and Rabih Alameddine, feeling like something of a lightweight between these two talents. I've never addressed such an enormous crowd before (and certainly not without a fortifying drink, which might have been frowned upon at 10 in the morning) but they seemed to enjoy the story of how Abdel and I met and were married, so people's generosity and innate sense of romance saw me through.

Typically, I missed all the sultry early-summer weather in the UK, during which Abdel walked the cliff path from Mousehole to Land's End in blazing sunshine, and now it's pouring with rain back here in Cornwall. But at least I'm back in time to watch the Champions League final. Is this the last time we'll see Drogba, Lampard or Carvalho in a a Blues strip? Heartbreaking thought. Come on, Chelsea!