


I swivel round to watch the climbers on the gritstone and, when I turn back, flames lick the battlements of the hall below. I jump up and race towards it, skirt dragging on the heather, bonnet ribbons flapping in the breeze. I hear the ghoulish laughter of the woman in the attic. My heart calls out to Edward, my love.
This mélange of real life and fiction also reminds me of a question I asked of my Liebster nominees: If you could invite a fictional character to write one of your posts, who would you choose and why? Lora chose the poodle from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Liesel from The Book Thief; Susan chose any bookseller other than Bernard Black; Nicola passed on this one because of the impossibility of occupying the mind of another writer; AnnMarie plumped for Anne of Green Gables; and Ava wanted Rick Dockery from John Grisham’s Playing for Pizza. If you’re also a blogger, I wonder who you’d invite?