Welcome to my new-look Penny Jordan website, re-vamped (vamp being an oh so suitable choice of word here, I like to think) just in time for me to announce publication of the second book in my family trilogy for Avon/Harpercollins - Sins - publication date 12th June.

Here I'd just like to thank all those thoughtful readers who have written to me saying how much they enjoyed Silk and asking me when the second book will be published. Your emails have meant so much to me and are very much appreciated by me. I have dedicated Sins to all of you.

SINS Now with 'Sins' coming out in June, I can talk here a little bit more about it. Just as Silk the first book was very much Amber's story, so Sins is very much the stories of 'the next generation' in the form of her daughter, Emerald, her niece, Rose, and her two stepdaughters, Ella and Janey.

Part One of the book opens in 1957, with Part Two beginning in1965, and Part Three in 1977. I had originally intended to write my way through these decades without breaking off and separating the book into different 'Parts' but in the end the complex lives of my heroines got the better of me. As it was the book ran well over its planned word count.

SINS has been both the most demanding book I have ever written and the most enjoyable. Its characters have asked and expected of me 'more' than I had originally anticipated and I hope I have not let them down.


When the proofs arrived and I sat down to read them, I almost cried with relief and delight when my 'girls' almost sprang off the page for me, fresh and young and scarily vulnerable, rather like the little ducklings I watched following their mother this morning, so confident and trusting, whilst I kept my fingers crossed that they would safely manage the hazards I knew lay in front of them before they reached the safety of their pond. (My home on a newish development lies between two ponds, and our local pair of ducks seem to spend the spring flying to and fro between them.)

My fictional 'ducklings' encounter their own sets of hazards and disappointments, some of them allied to past 'sins' which are not their own, before emerging into the sixties with all its heady promises and pleasures and all its potential dangers.



HMB'S Centenary Year

2008 was Mills & Boon's centenary year and along with many other HMB's UK authors I was involved in some of the PR activities that took place to celebrate Mills Boon's 100th birthday, in addition to writing four new books for the Presents Line.

I was lucky enough to appear on national TV three times - namely, The Book Show, Richard and Judy, and then BBCNews24 when they were doing an item on BBC's play based on fictionalised aspects of M & B's history. I watched the play and loved it. The TV appearances were exciting and nerve wracking. I'm used to doing library talks and Radio but not TV, so this was new territory for me.

Later on in the year I was involved with HMB's move into the Indian market, mainly because I had already written a book with an Indian hero. When the Indian Office of HMB opened earlier this year they launched with a competition to find an Indian author, and both I and India Grey, a fellow HMB author, were interviewed by telephone by several Indian magazine and newspaper reporters.

India has the largest English speaking population of anywhere in the world so launching English language books for their market is a very exciting move, and something I was really thrilled to be invited to be part of.

As I type I'm looking forward to being on Women's Hour later this week along with the winner of the competition who I am longing to meet. She will find a truly warm welcome waiting for her amongst HMB's authors.

This year (2009) looks like being just as busy as 2008, from a writing point of view. So far I have written two of my regular four HMB Presents books, and am currently working on the final book of my Annie Groves WW2 series about my fictional Campion family.

In August I shall start work on 'Scandals' the third book of the Silk trilogy, and I'm already working on the research for this. So far the plan is that the book will be set in the early 1990's New York, London, and Cornwall.



Post my piece about the HMB competition, I was really thrilled when the winner, Milan emailed me to say how much she was looking forward to us 'meeting' tomorrow via the Women's Hour programme.

I'm suspect we'll have so much to share that Jenni Murray will have a hard time getting a word in.

For those of you who want to write for HMB I recommend that you listen in to hear Milan talking about her success, and how she achieved it. I'm certainly hoping to pick up some tips from her about what appeals to our Indian readers.

Penny Jordan