I'm writing this listening to the wind howling outside as yet another storm rolls in from the Atlantic and across the sodden Devon countryside. The past few months seem to have been one long storm in this part of the world. The rain comes in horizontally and seems to find its way through every crack on the south side of the house. We regularly have to put towels along the window sills and mop up in the morning. The building has been here since 1350, so it's a lot more accustomed to this kind of weather than we are.

Sometimes the leaden sky seems low enough to touch. The River Dart, which I can see from my study window, has been in flood for months now and downstream, in the woods, several big trees have blown over --- our firewood for next winter. A couple of days ago, a container ship went aground a few miles along the coast, spilling two hundred tons of oil and washing all kinds of goods, from bottles of shampoo to BMW motorcycles, ashore. More than a thousand seabirds have already been found dead or dying and people have been coming from miles away to see what loot they can scavenge from the beaches. It's whisky galore all over again but not nearly so funny. It's going to take a year to clear the coast up and the damage to wildlife will last many more. Does anybody seriously doubt anymore that something strange is happening to our climate?

The paperback of my last novel, The Divide, is about to be published in the United States (February 6th) so those of you who didn't buy the hardcover now have a chance to read it. The paperback is already out in the UK (and most other countries) and seems to have done pretty well. It has had some fabulous reviews and I've had a lot of great feedback (email and letters) from readers, many of whom say they think it's my best book yet. Thank you.

For those of you who have been asking when the next novel is out, I can report is that, during these storms (even through the powercuts), I've been hard at work. I come from quite a supertitious family --- we never walked under ladders and always had to recite a little chant if we saw a solitary magpie --- so I don't want to say too much about this new book until it's done. I suppose the fear is that if you open the cage door too early, the bird might flutter out and get lost. 

What I can say is that it has been a lot of fun researching this story. It is partly set in the late 1950s and one of the main characters is a boy who is obsessed (as I have to admit I was) by TV westerns. I've spent (call this work?) many hours watching some of my old favorites --- "Cheyenne," "Rawhide," "The Range Rider," "Have Gun, Will Travel" as well as some of the older ones such as "Hopalong Cassidy" and "The Lone Ranger." It has to be said that some of them haven't stood the test of time too well. Among those that have, however, are shows like "Gunsmoke" and, my all time favourite, "Wagon Train." They're every bit as good as I remember. 

In October I spent some time in L.A., and met some of the people who were involved in making these shows --- writers, producers, directors and actors --- all of whom are a little long in the tooth nowadays. Some great characters --- I won't name names, but it was fascinating. The speed at which they had to work in those days was astonishing. A half-hour show was generally shot in just three days - sometimes even two. I picked up some wonderful anecdotes too, one or two of which might just find their way into the book.

On the home front (apart from storms and shipwrecks, that is), all is relatively calm. My youngest son just started full-time school and, thank goodness, is settling in pretty well. It's a long time since my older children had to do this and I'd almost forgotten that heart-rending moment when you have to leave them on their own in the school yard. In a way it was the first day of the rest of his life.  That worry in the eyes, the biting of the lip, trying to be brave and not cry --- and that was just his dad!

My Italian publishers recently asked some of their authors to give them stories about bookstores for some charity brochure they were putting together. I told them the one I mentioned in my last newsletter, about the sports star who got arrested at his own booksigning at a store in Texas. The sheriff was last in line and handcuffed the poor guy for some outstanding drunken driving charges. The other story I told them was one I heard from a bookstore manager in Milan.  Apparently a local (and not so successful) author used to come in every week, disguised (or so he thought) in a motorcycle helmet to rearrange his books to more visible positions all around the store. One day the manager went up to him and said: "Thanks for your help, but when you leave, we immediately just put them back were they were, so this is really a waste of everyone's time." Even through his visor, you could apparently see the poor fellow's blushes. He fled without a word and never reappeared.

I'm afraid that's all --- got to get back to work. Just a word of apology. Through some technical glitch, last year we lost a lot of readers' emails to this website. I try to reply to every email you send me, so don't give up on me, if you didn't hear back. Just try me again.

All best wishes and happy whispers for 2007,

Nicholas Evans (Nicholas@NicholasEvans.com)

Now, from the number-one bestselling author of The Horse Whisperer comes an epic thriller of the human heart.

Two backcountry skiers find the body of a young woman embedded in the ice of a remote mountain creek. All through the night, police work with arc lights and chain saws to dig her out. But identification doesn't take as long. Abbie Cooper is wanted for murder and acts of eco-terrorism, and her picture is on law-enforcement computers all across America. But just how did she die? And what was the trail of events that led this joyous, golden child of a loving family so tragically astray?

In a journey of discovery and redemption, from the streets of New York to the daunting grandeur of the Rocky Mountains, The Divide delves into the dynamics of a fractured family and their struggle with the pain of lost happiness. Electrifying and heartbreaking, master storyteller Nicholas Evans's new novel delivers an extraordinary tale about the timeless power of nature, and about the yearnings, hopes, and disillusionments that connect -- and separate -- all men and women.

Click here to read a conversation with Nicholas Evans About THE DIVIDE.

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