Well that sort of covers it, doesn't it?  Rachel Carlyle, in S Magazine for the Sunday Express, included The Ask and the Answer as an "award-winning must-read for this year".  Which is nifty.  She also included Helen Grant's The Vanishing of Katharina Linden, which I'm up against for the year's Booktrust Teenage Prize, which will be announced on Wednesday.

And all of you good folk who've been asking me what to read for the next 6 months until Monsters of Men comes out could do a lot worse than the books on the shortlist, particularly Keith Gray's Ostrich Boys, which is brilliant.

Greetings to the new commenters, including my biggest fan from Swindon, Sam, who I was privileged enough to meet in person, Cristin (hi again!), Amanda, Jane (who, with her kind comment, becomes the 300th commenter on the site), Aine (I write them for me, Aine, and I'm happy with whoever reads them), Tash (some of my in-laws live in Dubai, actually, but hi right back to the UAE), and Jodie.

Don't forget to take a look at the Monsters of Men cover here.