Nope. None of those occurred to me, though it's true that Darwin's originally a north-west English name, being a spelling of Darwen. I picked Durward for an echo with Scott's chivalrous hero Quentin Durward - right period, and a sneaky reference to the pioneer of historical fiction - plus words like durable and forward. Pause to look up Durward, can't remember if I did this originally. Yes! Either I did before, or I'm lucky, as Durward is actually from the person who was the door-ward, as in gatekeeper, which fits nicely.

Anna/Emma not specially, it's just a name I like, and Ware because she's wary (see Chapter 9). Some names are more significant than others: 'Theo' and 'Eva', now...

Emma
Forgot to say congratulations on the book being out...well done! Hope you are enjoying every second of every sighting in a book shop. I'm off to get my mits on an Amazon copy right now.

Thanks, Caroline. Hope you enjoy it.

Emma

Emma

Just got my copy of Mathematics of Love along with Taking Comfort via Amazon's special offer for the two. You must be very pleased with the presentation - it looks great. I'm looking forward to reading it. It's a great encouragement to see WriteWorders getting to this stage and getting such a good reaction! Congratulations.

Chris

I ordered mine earlier and I was also thrilled to see Taking Comfort and High John the Conquerer coming up at the same time! Maybe we WW-ers can gradually take over the book trade!

Yes, and such diversity between the books too. I doubt if anyone will ever turn round and say: "oh that's a typical WW novel". I look forward to new titles from other listers.

Jim

Thanks, Chris.

Jim, do you think people minding the computers at Amazon see High John and Taking Comfort and TMOL all linked, and scratch their heads and think that the computer's suddenly become a law unto itself?

Emma

It’ll do their heads in, trying to work out the connections… lol

Emma, I don't imagine a person at the Amazon computer, more a sort of homunculus or brass golem, who delights in raising authors to 999 (say) and then plunging them swiftly to a million and ninety nine, before tantalising them with a brief period in the 40Ks. All the while giggling maniacally.

Jim

Well, it's done. TMOL has been purchased. Bristol doesn't have an Ottakar's - obviously being a city and not a market town - so I acted on the spur of the moment and entered a large chain bookshop.

So I believe that's a smack on the legs for entering the devil's playground and a pinch of the cheek for buying the book. Shame it's not signed but never mind.

Roger, if you're out there, I also saw three copies of Taking Comfort on the shelves but didn't have enough money on me to buy that as well. But I will, honest.

Thanks for buying the book, Sibelius. I'll forbear to smack legs: I'm happy for anyone to get hold of it anywhere, it's being read that we all long for. Hope you enjoy it.

Emma

Just bagged a signed copy of TMOL from my nearest Ottakar's in Milton Keynes. COngratulations on the launch and the high profile. Your publisher done good: they had it on a stand just near the door.
Tony

I've just finished it. It is wonderful. I'm going to write a review of it, in the review section, right now.

D.

Sibelius, I'm here. Thanks for letting me know you spotted some copies. They haven't started sending them back yet then.

Thanks, Tony and Darren.

Emma