Rodez

Went to Rodez today for lunch with my French publisher, Danielle Dastugue, who is now semi-retired. It was good to catch up following the recent death of her son, who was my translator. We lunched at a Michelin-starred restaurant, then went to the town’s museum to see an enchanting exhibition of the works of American sculptor, Alexander Calder, inventor of the mobile. As his name might suggest, his father emigrated to the US from Scotland. I was particularly taken by the humour and skill employed to create this wire matador, and today’s Extra, which is a bird. The amazing thing about all the wire sculptures is that they retain their integrity no matter which angle you view them from, including above (as demonstrated by the shadows).

I owe everything to Danielle, who rescued me by publishing my China books in French at a time when I was really on my uppers. Then she recovered “The Blackhouse” from the trash can after it had been rejected by the entire British publishing industry. She had her son translate it, and published it in France to great acclaim. I tried to insist on paying for lunch, but she wouldn’t hear of it. It was unheard of, she said, for a writer to pay for a publisher’s lunch.

But I gave her something, I think, more personal and precious. It was the bound proof of my new book, which comes out in the UK in January. It was to have been translated into French by her son, but tragically he passed away before he could even begin work on it. However I had already dedicated this book to Danielle, and when she opened it up and saw her name she burst into tears.