Mutton: live webchat with India Knight Tues 24 Sept 12-1pm

Hi Cari, am I here?

Ah, yes I am. Hello. Think I'll go from the top.

flopsybunny

Hi India! Loved the book. Thank you GN for sending it to me

What made you write it?

Flopsybunny - I wanted to write it because (as with all of my books) that particular subject was whirling round in my head, what with being FORTY SEVEN. I'd thought for decades that Botox, 'procedures' and so on were the devil's work, and then I woke up one morning and thought, 'Really, though? Are they really? What about when they work and look really great?'. So it went from there.

katesheilaskate

Very light reading, but funny - especially some of the historic references eg. you hardly seem old enough to remember Hamble, India! Do you spend all your time scribbling down ideas from what you hear around you? It seems like you must, to keep it coming at such a pace. Thanks for the book Gransnet.

Katesheilakate - glad you enjoyed. It's funny with "light" writing - I always think about that brilliant Dolly Parton line, "it takes a lot of money to look this cheap", in that it also takes quite a lot of effort to make it look breezy.

Yes, I make notes all the time, using ingenious abbreviations, and then in the morning I have no idea of what I meant. I tried speaking the notes into my phone at one point, but then I felt like an arse. The notes thing is a work in progress.

Brahaspatinda

Looking forward to reading 'Mutton'; meanwhile re-reading 'Idiot-Proof Diet' for the nth time as an inspiring nudge... It's just as engaging every time, thank you - and Nerys - so much. Did you manage to keep the weight off? Reckon this is still a Q related to how we dress (and behave!)

Brahaspatinda - I'm still (as is Neris) so proud of that book and I'm delighted you like it. Weight - it varies. I like to pad out a bit for winter, which is why I am eating a healthful slice of Battenburg as I type. But I try and abide by the principles of it as much as I can, and if there's a terrible fatness emergency then I go back into it. I do think one's relationship with weight changes with age, though - it kind of seems to matter less.

nonnasusie

My copy of "Mutton" was waiting for me when I arrived home from England last night. I wondered what the parcel was as I had forgotten entering the draw in the excitement of going to see my grandchildren and celebrating my 65th birthday with all the family!! I haven't looked at it yet as I am reading something else but look forward to doing so!

Nonnasusie - hope you enjoy it!

(Thanks to the people saying they've got their copy and are looking forward to reading it)

coolio

I don't understand the "American" teeth reference in the OP... What's the story behind that India?

Coolio - 'American teeth' = big, so white they're almost blue, massively veneered.

pamelaJEAN

How lovely to have a book that makes me laugh out loud... going through some problems at the moment ...so a blessed release , thank you so much, although get some strange looks from hubby , when I am sat there smiling ... book in hand. Thank you India very enjoyable.... also a big thankyou to Gransnet x

Pamelajean - how nice, so pleased you like.

gardener

Thanks very much for the book...it came just as I was leaving for the airport...a great holiday read !
I'm looking forward to reading more of India's books.
My question for India is :-
When you were talking to women who have had Botox and other "work" on their face, did you find that they were pleased with the result..or have they any regrets ?

Gardener - it entirely depends on the person and on who they went to. Actually that's not true - it also entirely depends on their frame of mind. As I never get bored of saying, none of this stuff is magic - it can't change the way you feel like on the inside. If you're feeling pretty cheery and contented with your lot but don't like your big frown line, you're going to be delighted with the results (PROVIDED YOU GO TO SOMEBODY PROPER, v important). But if you're pissed off with your life or circumstances and/or with yourself, nothing cosmetic you have done has the power to change that. You know - the frown line's gone but your life is still there.

penguinpaperback

Hi India and GNHQ, thank you for the book, I really enjoyed it.
I live in a bourgeois-bohemian neighbourhood, so I recognised the huge jewellery with the ethnic spin. :-)
Hi India, I would love to know how you go about your writing. Is there a strict timetable? (I'm thinking of those accounts you read in the Sunday mags, I wake at 5, write until noon, have a small dish of watercress salad and then write until midnight.) Thanks..x

Penguinpaperback - Yes, I'm always getting up at dawn, doing a special dance with the animals and then sitting down to a wholesome algae juice.

No - I sort of work upside down, often late at night (house quiet, can hear myself think), but also in the daytime at the kitchen table (wrong height, have carpal tunnel as a result), constantly interrupted, with the radio on, which is a disaster as I have a pathetic attention span. But I think that since I write about domestic things, it wouldn't make much sense to remove myself from domestic things while I write.

Also, kitchen = snacks.

NannyPam

Thanks for the book GN - it is a good light read and very enjoyable.

India - did you base the any of the characters in the book on how you feel in your forties?

NannyPam - I did, although it's the least autobiographical of my books. But I wanted to explore that feeling you suddenly get of 'Bloody hell, what happened? How am I this age?'

hummingbird

A good, light-hearted and thought- provoking read! Some bits made me laugh out loud - India, you are definitely writing about dome of my acquaintances!

Hummingbird - ha, lots of people have said that. Just shows what a unifying experience ageing is.

zipwire

Have you had botox? And if not would you?

Zipwire Yes. I wrote about it recently in the Sunday Times - I'd link to the page but I'm scared of not being able to get back into here. It can be brilliant, it can be awful (I've had both sorts). It's absolutely essential to go to someone who really, really knows what they're doing. waggles eyebrows

mumtotwins

I loved the book. I haven't read any of your others yet but now I definitely will. Are there any more about these characters or do you always write about different people?

Hello Mumtotwins, and thank you - there are two other novels feat. Clara Hutt, of which the first is called My Life On A Plate and the second Comfort and Joy.

limpet

Thanks GN for the book. I liked it very much especially the bit set in Scotland (Muck?)
India please tell me you actually did this journey to research it? It made me laugh out loud (I have been in a similar situation so the laughing was part empathy part hilarity)

Limpet - yes, it's Muck, and yes. I went to several, in fact, so it's an amalgalm. You can't even begin to imagine the hilarity. Lovely, though - very keen on the old Isles. But there may have been an element of crying with laughter at the absurdity of me transported there.