‘Oh,’ said Fenella, ‘I don’t get nearly enough time to read but what do you think of Anita Dubrovnik? I know she’s the novelist of the moment – like every other book group in the country, we’re reading her latest.’ She paused. ‘And I know I won’t have time to finish it.’

Laura laughed. ‘I run a book group at the shop and I always tell people they should come even if they haven’t read it. They can often ask questions that really get the discussion going.’

‘I don’t think I can trade on that for ever,’ said Fenella. ‘So? Could I have a cheat’s guide?’

Laura found herself giving potted reviews of all the latest bestsellers and, unusually for her, content to be the centre of attention. It must be the relaxed atmosphere of the kitchen, she thought, away from all that forced formality upstairs.

Jacob Stone, who hadn’t really opened his mouth up to this point, came over to their group. He was short and stocky but had presence. People seemed to listen when he spoke, and as he didn’t, often, it made an impact when he did. Now, holding his mug of tea and with a piece of cake in his other hand, he said, ‘Do you know Dermot Flynn?’

‘Oh yes!’ said Laura, genuinely keen. ‘He’s brilliant. He was—’

‘Get him to the festival and I’ll sponsor it – however much money you’ll need,’ said Jacob Stone, cutting through her rush of enthusiasm.

Laura swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. This man thought she actually knew him. He was possibly her favourite writer, ever, but she didn’t actually know him, any more than she actually knew Shakespeare, however many essays she’d written about him. She had to explain. ‘Um—’

‘Oh, that would be marvellous!’ said Fenella, not noticing this small interjection. ‘I can’t tell you how grateful we’d be. Basically we can’t do this without a sponsor and – well, it’s hard to get them,’ she added, suddenly looking a little sheepish.

‘And I was the only millionaire you knew?’ said Jacob Stone.

‘Yes, frankly, but we’d be terribly thrilled—’

‘If Dermot Flynn is there, I’ll be proud to support it.’

‘But—’ Laura tried to break in. Now everyone seemed to think she knew him. She had to put a stop to this. ‘I don’t—’

‘He’s one of Eleanora’s. Utterly charming but almost impossible to manage.’ Tricia Montgomery had the look of someone who really wanted to be outside smoking a cigarette. ‘You won’t get him to the festival unless he really wants to come.’

‘I didn’t mean I knew him as a person,’ said Laura, getting her word in at last. ‘I meant I know his work. I studied him at university and think he’s utterly brilliant.’