World Book Day

It's World Book Day as all book lovers will know. Today is the day I feel a teeny bit sorry for people who don't read. Even the best film adaptation in the world can't compare with a really good book. And the nice thing is that you can read them over and over again.
Whenever I feel in the need for something entertaining but gentle, I pick out a Jane Austen novel. Following a nasty bout of bronchitis, I needed a pick-me-up and I am currently reading Emma, even though I practically know it by heart. Highbury and its inhabitants still makes me smile. As a writer, I appreciate Jane Austen's grasp of human nature. Her stories are peopled with characters who are so true to life. The polite, kind-hearted Mr.Woodhouse with his "habits of gentle selfishness" is as believable as Miss Bates, who sees only the best in everybody. The character of Emma is often said to be the most rounded of the Jane Austen heroines: you can't help but like her despite all her blunders.
Be all that as it may, I enjoy the story for what it is and the fact that it is going to end happily for everybody.
I am currently editing a novel I wrote several years ago. The cover is now ready which is a spur for me to get a move on and finish it.

I am using my own name for this book. I write crime as P.B. Barry and romance as Peggy O'Mahony. My crime novels and my romance novels are all set in Ireland. A MAN CALLED GREGOR shifts between Dublin, London, Germany and Croatia. When her parents are killed in a traffic accident, Lauren's Uncle Gregor rescues her from a round of foster homes. He provides stability in her life.When he goes missing, she sets out to find him and in the process her life turns upside down.

I'm hoping to publish around Easter this year but I still have a lot of edits to do. I am revising the ending to the story - this is the tricky bit, I find, how to sort and tie up the strands of the story in a satisfactory way.

Incidentally, I have written one novel set in Germany under the name Peggie Biessmann:
SPATE OF VIOLENCE, which is the story of a family who move home and are caught up in the social problems of a town.

Time to get down to doing some of that editing. Happy World Book Day to readers everywhere.