On Monday we went to the Donmar Warehouse to see Gillian Anderson cry real tears in A Dollhouse. She looked so beautiful and radiant that Tara Fitzgerald who played her clever plain friend, seemed dull but svelte in comparison. I was so hooked up in the whole thing that by the end of the play, I resolved that I too, should leave my marriage and bravely, heroically and with dignity,  like she left Thomas. By now of course I’ve changed my mind, but after ten years of marriage you do have your moments. This is what my new novel is about, The Seven Year Itch, published by Penguin. It’s the story about what happens when your marriage or long term relationship seems stale, dull and ordinary. When you no longer have candle lit dinners together (perhaps you never did) but when you pick your toenails and fart in front of each other. Nice. In normal life you would ride through those times, seeking solace in drink and girlfriends and your children. But what if you decided not to? 

Gillian Anderson is my new heroine. She supports my climate activist group WeCan We are a group of women, mostly mothers, who have actively campaigned for further intervention from the government to keep emissions down. I also saw her talk before the film, The Age of Stupid, about what would happen if we don’t act now to combat global warming, tearing down the rain forests etc. She seemed as though she really did care. I think she does.