Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Eileen Ramsay Shares Two of Her Best Valentine's Days

February has become synonymous with romance - thank you Saint Valentine. So we asked a few RNA members to tell us about some of their Valentine's experiences. Scottish author Eileen Ramsay kicks of the month with two of her best...

Valentine's Day 1969 Washington DC. My boyfriend rings my doorbell at 6am. Nothing exciting. He's a health fanatic and thinks 100 metre sprints will keep my arthritis at bay - we have done this before. I must love him.
Up and down Massachusetts Avenue we go, and eventually, just outside the British Embassy I am allowed to collapse in a quivering heap.
'Will you marry me?' he bends down, holding out a really rather lovely diamond ring.
Frankly, I want to kill him, horribly, but I nod and grab the ring.
Fast forward 40 years.
My husband, still jogging, brings me coffee in bed. With it is a beautiful little parcel which contains an antique three-stone ruby ring. I hold out my hand for him to slip it on and the phone rings. It is my younger son.
'Hi, Mum, Barnaby has just been born. Happy Valentine's Day.'
Barnaby, our first grand child. My heart sings, Deo Gratias.
I bet this year it will be Toblerone.





RNA award winner Eileen Ramsay delivers a passionate new novel, set in the tumultuous world of classical music. Juliet Crawford is a brilliant and beautiful young orchestra conductor, living in Edinburgh, and dreaming of success. When she is offered the chance of a lifetime to get ahead with her career, with the incredible possibility of permanently leading a prestigious American orchestra, she decides nothing will stand in her way. But it is there that she meets the handsome young Czech conductor Karel Haken. As the attraction between them builds to a crescendo, she knows their ambitions will always push them apart. Does she dare to love him despite everything?

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