London Pre-Launch Party + Stuffed Swans

Now I’m sitting on the Eurostar to Paris. Oh, I know. It’s a tough life. But now that I’ve slept – and visited Ottolenghi’s Belgravia Cafe for a bit of food this morning – I would like to write about the rather incredible pre-launch party the lovely team at Andersen Press threw in my (well, “Molecules’) honour last night.

I met Chloe Sackur, my fantastic copy editor (the one who saved me from having Ashley admire Jared’s and her dad’s “pants” here in the UK) at the Random House building, where they have their offices.

We hopped on a double decker for one stop, and walked down to close to the Thames, to this absolutely incredible building called Brunswick House, on Wandsworth Road. It’s a vibrant bar/restaurant on the ground floor, and an antiques store on the main and top floors. They rent it out to a lot of weddings and other parties (like ours). Everything is for sale, including marble fireplaces, marble columns, busts, prints, enormous pieces of furniture, and – yes – a stuffed swan – proof further down. But tonight the main floor was decked out in Molecules gear.

Look at these t-shirts!! And yes, I now am the proud owner of one as well. Modelling them are Sarah, Andersen’s amazing publicist and my constant companion for two days, Chloe my copy editor, and Imogen.

I was, I confess, shocked by the turnout. There were about 30 people present on a Friday night – librarians, booksellers, book bloggers, journalists, even a fellow Andersen author, Nicole Burstein (whose debut novel “Other Girl” comes out in April). And remarkably – they had all read ARC’s of “Molecules.” My editor, Charlie Sheppard, made a beautiful speech that made me blush up a storm. Quite simply, I have never experienced anything quite like this little soiree – it was a tad overwhelming yet such a huge vote of support for the book.

I wish I could remember everyone’s names, but I had lovely chats with Joy, librarian and editor of a library journal, Imogen (another one), a journalist, Ferewith (oh I hope I’ve spelled her name right, it was such a beautiful name), Karen, Peter and Carl who are sales reps for PRH/Andersen, Kate Grove, who designed the beautiful book cover (I told her she looks like an even prettier Sally Hawkins), Ash (we talked a lot about Maurice Sendak), Rachel, Yael (a fellow Vancouverite!), Karen … I’m doing pretty well with names but I did lose some along the way! I also met Jim@yayeahyeah, a book blogger who was one of the first to tweet about Molecules back in January. A maths professor by day and a passionate book blogger by night!

Then there was this lovely gal, Ann Hathaway lookalike Sarah Nuttall. She’s a bookseller at the Waterstones in Wakefield. She traveled FOUR AND A HALF HOURS by train to meet me. And was going to travel all the way back afterward. Her enthusiasm for the book was amazing – she is going to give it a window in May, and yes, it will involve molecules!

I signed a lot of books and had the opportunity to chat with most of the wonderful, supportive people there. I also got a quick private tour of the rest of Brunswick House from one of the proprietors, Ferrous (Iron Man?), a very funny (and dare I say very cute) fella. When the evening finally wound down three hours later at 9:30, Charlie Sheppard and I went down to the restaurant and had a good hour and a half together over dinner. I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to be a part of the Andersen family. They are putting their all into this book, and I truly hope it lives up to their expectations. I was buzzing last night but did manage to get a decent sleep. Now, Paris – dinner with my lovely French translator tonight, then Husband arrives tomorrow. No book business till Tuesday. Just being a tourist for the next couple of days!