This anniversary trip to Portugal just gets better and better, with more things to celebrate. Not just our fifty years together, but an unexpected interest in Louisa Elliott, first published by Chatto & Windus in 1989.

In my previous blog – The Frankfurt Book Fair – I mentioned that the translation rights for this bestselling novel sold to six foreign publishers. The German hardback edition came out in 1989, and the paperback, published by S. Fischer Verlag, in 1992. After so many years, I was astonished to hear from them a couple of weeks ago, requesting rights to publish a facsimile edition of ‘Louisa Elliott’ in both print and ebook formats.

Even more extraordinary, within days of that request came another, from a publisher in Lithuania – Media Incognito – asking for rights to publish a new translation of the same novel.

It may not sound like much in the scheme of things, but it’s a second bite of the apple for ‘Louisa Elliott’ – and a terrific compliment to know that the book is still so well-regarded.

When I’d recovered from my astonishment, I realised that these requests presented a slight problem. For the past few years I’ve been writing and publishing independently, without the assistance of a literary agent. I knew I couldn’t handle the foreign rights issue myself, so contacted a friend from the early days, and her agency, Richford Becklow, has agreed to represent me.

So, cue for more celebrations and a glass or two of bubbly!