Christmas just came early for me. My publishers shouted down my burrow this afternoon to let me know that Kathy Stevenson of the Daily Mail named A Humble Companion  as one of her picks of the year. I don’t know who this wise and discerning book critic is but she certainly made my Friday.

Revisions of next year’s book are going on apace  – it’s amazing how good it is to take a month off from a manuscript. One returns to it with fresh eyes and ears and yes, one sometimes thinks, ‘I wrote that?’

There will now be a short intermission while I bottle my cranberry vodka and indulge in a rillette fest. I’m making rabbit with mustard, pheasant with port, and wild boar with gin. Rillettes? We’ll be sick of ’em. Actually, I don’t think I’ll ever tire of rillettes. As soon as the domesticity itch has been scratched I’ll be back to the day job.