Summer is coming and with it, a list of chores that I have to undertake. But these are rather big chores. One of them is to knock a wall down, another is to fell several enormous trees, so they won't really be jobs I will personally be doing, yet my fingers are twitching to get started.

And I am excited. I am even more excited when I think about the novel I am currently writing. The Owners, Volume VII: Hunter's Moon, is where the story begins to turn towards the situation of Volume I, where suddenly you will see how the series is going full circle.

In all of my books I have created strong female and male characters and I hope they have made compulsive reading. But perhaps it is in this book that I have written the most complex female.

Matilda is a strong woman but her strength has been born of necessity. Sometimes she reminds me a little of Sophia from volume I but she has none of Sophia's tolerance and willingness to listen to others. Instead Matilda is hot-headed and unbending in her views. And she is set on a course that will destroy lives.

The worst thing about it is that she doesn't see what she is doing, she doesn't 'get' her mistakes. She is so busy falling over herself to put things right that she is doing exactly the opposite. We all know people like that. Fortunately those people seldom find themselves in the unenviable position that Matilda finds herself in.

I wish I could prevent the carnage and chaos that Matilda is about to wreak but I guess it wouldn't be much fun for you if I did!

Until then, happy reading!