This book was my first experience of having words I’d already written put together with others and called by a different name. I felt, at the time, I might be cheating – that someone might buy it and think it was new stuff and be angry at me for misleading them, but I was assured by the publishing team that things like this were done all the time and readers were very canny about it. And also I really liked the chance to use the title Trio for Lute, because the whole series had been involved with early Renaissance lute music and I felt I had stumbled upon the perfect way to describe it all.
And when I felt the size of the book in my hand, I was quite bucked up at myself for having written such a very long book, even though I knew the size was just an artifact of the publishing.
When I was a teen I came across a copy of Raphael in an old school library in a rural area in South Africa, where my mother was the librarian. I was so captivated by it that I went back the moment I finished to find more books by the same author. My delight at finding Trio for Lute was evident in the fact that I almost immediately resolved to never return the book. (I don’t condone theft, but I don’t feel particularly guilty either since English was the second language at the school and I’m fairly sure no one had read it, would miss it, or, frankly put, would appreciate it as much as I have and do. This was all about 15 or so years ago, and I’ve faithfully carried them with me and packed them from house to house. I’m just settling down to reread them once more, and I thought – it’s the age of the Internet – I must find and thank you if I can. The characters in this series feel like old, close friends – they caught my imagination and never let go. You are a gifted writer and I’m so glad I stumbled across your work. Thank you!
Gee. Wow. Thanks. Trio for Lute was the most sentimental work I have ever written. I actually got fan letters in the post-box from nuns.