The Bookends Summer Staycation 2021 | Tell us about your most memorable holiday

We’re back with some more summery answers from a few of Hodder’s, Headline’s and Quercus’ hottest authors as part of the Bookends Summer Staycation 2021! This time we asked them to tell us about their most memorable holiday. Check out their responses below…

Kate Sawyer, author of The Stranding

I’d say my most memorable holiday was one I sandwiched between work in New York and LA. After several months in New York I had three weeks until I needed to be in LA for meetings. But rather than go straight there I flew to Vancouver to meet a friend and we took the train all the way down the West Coast, taking in the incredible scenery and eating and drinking our way through Vancouver, Portland, Seattle all the way down to LA. We laughed for three weeks solid.

Jill Mansell, author of And Now You’re Back

Of course we loved our family holidays with the children, but it was a real thrill when the two of us were finally able to go away together on our own. We went to St. Ives and visited more restaurants than seems humanly possible. What can I tell you? We really love food!

Rosanna Ley, author of The Orange Grove

This was when I travelled to Burma to research ‘Return to Mandalay’. It was completely out of my experience and comfort zone. I loved the temples and the feeling of Buddhist calm; my favourite being the golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon which was mesmerising. I will never forget travelling by river boat from Mandalay to Bagan nor walking along the famous U Bein Bridge. We even experienced an earthquake while we were there…

Harriet Walker, author of The Wedding Night

In 2018, my husband and I went with my daughter to the island of Langkawi in Malaysia. It’s a UNESCO heritage site famous for its incredible wildlife and unspoiled beaches. We woke to dolphins playing in the bay behind our lodge, went on boat trips through the mangroves and made lots and lots of castles from pure white sand. I loved the place so much I decided it had to feature briefly in my novel The Wedding Night.

Ruth Druart, author of While Paris Slept

Skippering a boat with five girlfriends in Greece – how much we learnt, the fixes we got into, the laughs we had and the sense of freedom it gave us.