The easiest thing to give is a kind word.

‘Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love, and be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.’ –Sydney Smith

Rob and Cheryl O’Leary and their copy of ‘Winds of Time’

I think I’ve learnt a lot about people during my years of breeding Arabian horses and as my journey as an author unfolds it’s teaching me even more. One of the things I learnt early on was the importance of friendship and being generous. It’s the most surreal experience to share something you love with a true friend. I would even go as far as saying friendship and generosity also assists you to become more successful as an individual. I believe the importance of both is something that simply cannot be overstated.

I know that my desire to write is in part about making people think, to make them happy and to carry them away for a few hours into a new world, time or place . It’s also about reminding people about their responsibilities to an amazing breed of horse. I know the world pretty much measures success in terms of money and power but I like to think that I measure success more in terms of happiness, inner peace and offering joy. I know first hand the importance of friendship and can hardly imagine my life without several of my dearest and most generous friends.

“Do for others with no desire of returned favours. We should always plant some trees we’ll never sit under.”

The easiest and most generous thing to give is a kind word, and it’s a great feeling knowing we’ve made someone else’s life a little happier. Last week I received the most generous feedback from a friend. Cheryl and husband Rob were a huge help to me while I was writing ‘Winds of Time’, nothing I asked of them was too much trouble and they even allowed me to use some of their fantastic photographs on the book cover and in the book trailer. I especially wanted Cheryl to love ‘Winds of Time’ because she knows Egypt (the place where the novel is set) very well.

As a retired breeder of straight Egyptian horses she also knows much about these lines and having visited Egypt several times she adores anything to do with this mystical country. Below are Cheryl’s generous and touching words. To know you have touched someone so deeply that they will miss your characters is the most overwhelming feeling, in fact I’m not sure I can describe it. I know I’m going to miss the characters of the ‘Daughters of the Wind’ series but I gave birth to them and took them on their travels and got them in and out of trouble. To hear a reader say the same thing is extraordinary … Thank you Cheryl.

“Well, I tried really hard to stretch the book out to last a week, but I just couldn’t make it last that long, I finished it last night. You really nailed it this time. I think this one was the best of the three, I really enjoyed it so much. Don’t be worried about getting the Egypt stuff right, you got it absolutely right. As I was reading it, I was there with Jessikah, I could feel that wondrous land as I was reading the words. You took me back to the EAO as if I was there, just as I felt I was there at Luxor and standing right beside the great pillars inside Abu Simbel. You described the horses perfectly, they are just so different from the Arabian of the rest of the world. The Egyptian horses are the true drinkers of the wind, they have an aura about them that just tells you “this is my land and these are my people” Egypt. The storey was perfect, and I got a bit teary at the end, knowing that I had to say goodbye to Jessikah and Marc and the twins and Darley and Emma and Luc, they have become friends. Are you sure there won’t be any more stories about this family? Anyway, congratulations, the ‘Daughters of the Wind ‘ series is a great triumph for you, you should be so proud of what you have achieved.”