Dear Mum - Tapa dura

When Katy Simmons packed all three of her daughters off to their grandmother's house for a few days during their school summer holidays in order to get some work done in peace and quiet, she expected to talk to them on the phone, she knew that her eldest would send her a text now and again, she was even thinking about getting granny to set up Skype - but she never expected them each to send her a letter. She realised that Granny was responsible. Letters are such old-fashioned things, after all ... or are they? Talking to her friends, she soon realised that writing to Mum wasn't such a rare occurrence for other kids who were away from home. Some were encouraged to do so at school and others even liked to leave notes around the house for their mothers to find. Of course, when embarking on the huge task of writing a letter, you don't waste too much time on trivia. Letters are for important stuff - and it's what the children who wrote the letters that are featured in this book found important that make them so fascinating to read.

In her chequered past, Katy Simmons has been a librarian, a croupier, an entertainer aboard cruise liners and an editor. She has worked all over the world and still loves to travel but, having settled down in Suffolk, England, with three young girls and a golden retriever, travelling is not such a carefree undertaking these days. Katy was inspired to compile Dear Mum when she received letters from her own daughters. This is her first Constable book.