The Lady Magazine

17 April 2015

Dear Readers, Sometimes it’s the strangest things that bring us together. Yes, coffee mornings and pub visits, church services and bridge clubs all help to establish a strong sense of community, but occasionallyit takes something surprising truly to break the ice. That’s certainly what Jo-Anne Gibbs discovered when she and her husband moved from Britain to a remote community in France. As you can read in her humorously heart-warming account on page 20, she really got to know her new neighbours when her pet donkey, Bella, took a tumble into the swimming pool – and the whole town came to help. We also have a deeply moving interview with art critic, dog lover – and now children’s author – Brian Sewell, who is facing his own final chapter; Ernest Hemingway biographer Sir Christopher Ondaatje on the swashbuckling femme fatale the turbulent author could never tame, and Vera star Brenda Blethyn on becoming a no-nonsense detective and fi nding new love. Quite an issue, then – just don’t forget to tell the neighbours. Until next time, Matt Warren, Editor