On Saturday J & G Innes in St Andrews held a launch of my new book, Sons of the Fathers. The story is set in St Andrews, my home town, and some people have long memories ...
The launch was going along nicely when a lady of about my age came up to me and said she wanted to confess something that happened over fifty years ago. A girl at her (girls') school had given her a peacock's feather and she had held it as she rode her bicycle home. On her way she had passed me as I walked home from my (boys') school. She had tickled the back of my knees with the feather and I hadn't liked it. This had been on her conscience for over half a century and she felt better for telling me now.
I told her that I had been deeply traumatised by the incident, but was getting over it.
We had a good laugh and, yes, she did buy the book. Sons of the Fathers (Sheriff Hector Drummond #1).