Research, holiday, or confusing motion with activity? On a kettuvalem in the backwaters of Kerala, India A few years ago, more by accident than design—at least on my part, fortunately my agents were more focused—I found myself sitting on an 11-book deal. They—my agents, who were then Pat Kavanagh and Rosemary Canter at PFD—had separately submitted two of my books to publishers.   One was a work of historical fiction set during the French Revolution, featuring a character called Nathan Peake...

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