‘Oh,’ said Laura, ‘and a children’s writing competition would be good. The best ones could be read out at an event and printed in the local paper.’ Laura considered for a moment. ‘Although would the parents come to the event if they could see their child’s work in print anyway?’

‘I should think so,’ said Fenella. ‘Hard to tell. But children’s events would make the locals keen. It would be their festival too, not just something that’s inflicted on them.’ She chewed reflectively. ‘I’ve no idea how to get in touch with my wish list of writers.’

‘That’s what I’m here for. We contact them through their agents or publishers,’ said Laura. ‘We find out who’s in charge of their publicity and ask them. The only trouble is that it can take a while, if you don’t get a named person to deal with.’

‘Oh it’s so good having you,’ said Fenella. ‘You know all the wrinkles.’

‘And I’ll probably get a few too,’ Laura murmured.

Fenella ignored this. ‘I want to involve the local schools, get them to all come to something.’

‘Or it might be easier to get the authors to go to the schools,’ suggested Laura, flinching at the vision of marshalling fifty or so children into a hall.

‘Or both,’ suggested Rupert. ‘The authors go into the schools, give the children such a good time that they pester their parents to take them to the main event.’

‘Good thinking. You’re not just a pretty face, after all.’ Fenella smiled at her husband affectionately.

‘Where are we actually going to hold the events?’ asked Laura, feeling gently envious of their relationship. ‘Obviously you won’t be doing everything here. Festivals always scatter themselves over a town, of course, but yours is a pretty small one.’

‘Big enough though,’ said Fenella, defending her home territory. ‘There’ll be some here, of course, but for Dermot or any other really big names, we can hire the cinema. Don’t look at me like that! Apparently it’s lovely! And there’s a huge car park just next door. And I’ve had a word with the vicar and there’s a chapel that’s not used much that we can have. That has parking too,’ added Fenella, looking at Rupert, who’d obviously been a bit obsessed by this issue.

‘So the vicar’s keen on the festival, is he?’ said Laura. ‘I’m sure that’ll be helpful.’

‘Not he, she, and she’s in my book group.’

‘Excellent!’

‘So we’ll need to sort out the venues, but Sarah – remember? She was at the meeting – is going to help decide who should go where. I’m hopeless about guessing numbers and how much space they’ll take up.’

‘Wouldn’t a marquee here be better for Dermot than a cinema?’ suggested Laura.