In haste, as I'm on holiday at the moment:

The Ask and the Answer has been shortlisted for the very groovy Costa Book Awards, alongside the lovely Mary Hoffman for Troubadour, the late Siobhan Dowd for Solace of the Road, and Anna Perera for Guantanamo Boy.  Good luck to all of us, eh?

And a very quick hello to all the new commenters:  Maria, Kaitlyn, Justin, Megan, Thomas, Nicki, Thomas (again, hi!), Ben, Brianna and Hannah.  Great to hear from you all.  More later, but now back to my holiday...