Why write a biography? It only pins you down. Suffice to say I was born in Africa. And already that’s seeing the world without its skin. My father was the local gynaecologist. My mother was born in Strasbourg. My grandmother lived with us. In many ways I loved my childhood, but not in others. I would have been cheating myself if I hadn’t left to study English literature in Britain. That was my feat of daring that altered the landscape of my life. Before the term started, I went to Paris, like all would-be artists and authors. It was spring. I was full of day-dreams, imagining myself capable of extraordinary insights and creativity. It was a time when everything seemed possible. I could laugh at it now, but it propelled me to develop some of those qualities. In Paris, I fell in love and got engaged, but in the bleak, cold winter of my first term at Edinburgh, I broke it off. I got a First class MA Honours and the Janet Christie Bequest to study abroad. So, I drove to Florence with a friend and lived in an old farmhouse for 8 months, learning Italian, studying at the British Institute. In the slipstream of my life I imagined that I would be a great writer, another Virginia Woolf, have the perfect family, be the best mother. My path was a journalism, a single mother of one daughter. My writing included campaigns to save a brutalised lioness in northern Italy, Hebridean seals at risk, endangered and slaughtered leatherback turtles in Tobago, and premature babies at Dulwich hospital in dire need of incubators. I covered news, travel, and then big interviews with iconic figures in the public eye. Freddie Mercury, Angelina Jolie, Amy Winehouse, George Michael, Bono, and literally hundreds more. I walked away from journalism to live in Venice and write my first novel, Behind the Mirror. My second, All the People We Are, is set on the Cycladic island of Folegandros. The third, The Shed, is set in Berlin through WW2, and Southern Rhodesia in the 60’s. My literary agent is Jason Bartholomew of The Bks Agency.
A city of contradictions and one that inspires a sense of great passion. Naples offers the unique ability to truly live in each moment IT WASN’T ONE THING that made me fall in love with Naples. It was so much all at once. The dazzling light, music on every street, the smell of oranges and … Continued
Sharon Feinstein’s experience on Monday is now the subject of a probe by British Home Secretary Priti Patel. A traveller has described how, after flying into the UK from South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International Aiport on Monday, she was able to breeze through passport control without a single Covid-19 check. Journalist Sharon Feinstein told CapeTalk’s … Continued
CORONAVIRUS: TOUGH NEW RULES PRITI Patel is investigating how a British woman breezed into the UK after landing from South Africa. The Daily Express yesterday revealed how Sharon Feinstein passed through the e-gates at Heathrow Airport without being asked to show her Covid-19 test certificate or passenger locator form. Ms Feinstein flew from Johannesburg to Doha … Continued
Go for the fantastic peach-and-champagne Bellinis and martini cocktails, the interesting people, the fact that Ernest Hemingway sat at a certain table writing his novels and Ezra Pound composed poetry here, says travel writer Sharon Feinstein. Harry’s Bar, Venice, is a one-off and never fails to impress. Harry’s doesn’t advertise itself. It’s so understated that … Continued
He’s the man with the golden strum… and now ed sheeran is being lined up to sing the theme for the new Bond movie. do so at the time, but insisted: “It’s good.” Previous artists providing the theme song have included Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, Madonna and Adele. The Film-makers got the global chart-topper firmly in … Continued
GEORGE Clooney enjoys a night out with wife Amal and throws his art and soul into the occasion. The actor, 58, sketched a cat for staff at Da Ivo restaurant in Venice and signed it: “Another perfect night, thank you, Amal and George.” On an earlier visit, George inked a self-portrait and signed wine bottles … Continued
