After a manic year in 2018 I haven’t been staying in with authors in 2019, but I couldn’t resist asking Zoë Folbigg to stay in with me to celebrate the paperback publication of her book The Postcard. My thanks to Vanessa Aboagye at Midas PR for inviting me to be part of the blog tour.

Published by Aria, The Postcard is available for purchase here.

The Postcard

The Postcard is the sequel to the bestselling novel The Note, based on the unbelievable true story of Zoë Folbigg and her Train Man. Zoe spent a whole year secretly admiring a handsome stranger on her daily commute. Deciding to do something frivolous on her birthday, Zoë made the first the move and boldly left him a note – only to discover he had a girlfriend. But months later, the man on the train got back in touch with Zoë to tell her he was single. From Train Man to beautiful Mark, the pair fell in love and the rest is history!

Adapting her heart-warming love story to page-turning fiction, The Note was Amazon Prime’s most downloaded book of 2018 and to date has sold over 230,000 copies across all formats. Her characters Maya and James inspired a whole phenomenon of women around the world giving notes to their secret admirers on their daily commute.

Now, in this hotly anticipated follow-up, Maya and James are embarking on another journey – this time travelling around the world. The trip starts promisingly with their friend’s opulent and romantic Indian wedding in Udaipur. But as their travels continue, Maya fears that ‘love at first sight’ might not survive trains, planes and tuk tuks, especially when she realises that what she really wants is a baby. And the trouble is, James doesn’t feel the same.

Back home, Maya’s best friend Nena is struggling with the reality of being a new parent. Little does Nena know that Maya risks losing the love of her life over her dreams of motherhood. Can Maya and James navigate their different hopes and dreams to stay together? Or is love at first sight just a myth after all…

Perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Marian Keyes, The Postcard continues the once-in-a-lifetime love story that readers so took to their hearts.

Staying in with Zoë Folbigg

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag Zoë. Thanks for staying in with me.

Thanks for having me round Linda, it’s a total honour to be staying in and hanging out with you!

I rather think I might know the answer to this, but which of your books have you brought to tell us about and why?

I’ve brought The Postcard – it’s my third book and was published this summer. It’s the sequel to my debut The Note, which came out in 2017 and was based on the true story of how I met my husband. I fell for him on our daily commute, but it took a year for me to pluck up the courage to give him a note, asking him out for a drink. When we (eventually!) got together, so many people said that our story sounded like a novel, that I decided to write it as one. And it went down so well and became a bestseller, my publisher asked for a sequel.

What a romantic tale. I love the way you met. So, tell me, what can we expect from an evening in with The Postcard?

Well The Postcard picks up a year after The Note ends, and Maya and James are off on a round-the-world adventure. Again it’s based on a my own true-life story and the year-long trip my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I took in 2008. Expect a lot of colour and drama: Maya and James start in India at a big Bollywood-esque wedding, then travel to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos… The plan is to carry on to Australia, but they hit some serious bumps in the road. Both in terms of their relationship and some curveballs thrown at them along the way.

I MUST read The Postcard as soon as I can. I’ve been to India, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Australia so I think I could be the perfect reader!

What else have you brought along and why have you brought it? 

I have a very sweet tooth, so I always take sweet treats when I’m visiting a friend, and tonight is no different.

I’m delighted to hear this as I have exactly the same taste!

The Postcard needs some appropriately exotic sweet treats, so I’ve brought gulab jamun, my favourite food from India. They’re made from milk solids and then condensed into a dough, which is deep fried and drizzled in a sweet syrup. They’re little balls of deliciousness – I’d say not a health food!

No, but they are so good to eat!

I’ve also brought a bottle of Seedlip, a botanical non-alcoholic drink, in my favourite variant, Spice 94. I’m not a big drinker: since becoming a mother my tolerance to alcohol is weak, but I’m sick of sugary fizzy drinks. Non-drinkers get a bit of a bad deal on a night out (or in!). But a measure of this mixed with a flavoured Fever Tree tonic (and a slice of dried orange peel) in a blousy balloon glass feels like a special treat – and the bonus is I can drive home too.

I’m not much of a drinker either and I’ve never heard of Seedlip Spice 94 so I shall be interested to share this with you in a bit.

I’ve also brought some Green & Black’s (did I mention I have a sweet tooth?!). I’ve brought Sea Salt and Maya Gold variants, mainly because I was fuelled by Green & Black’s while writing The Postcard. Sea Salt replenishes me after a run (I know I know, I should eat avocados on toast or something). I go running in the morning after dropping my boys at school, so I can think about what I’m going to write that day, so naughtily I refuel on chocolate. And Maya Gold is a spiced chocolate with orange notes, that’s the perfect accompaniment to the Seedlip botanical drink.

I think you may just be the perfect guest Zoë. Non-alcoholic drinks, chocolate, sweet treats and books. What could be better? Thanks so much for staying in with me and telling me all about The Postcard. I can’t wait to read it!

Thanks for having me Linda.

About Zoë Folbigg

Zoë Folbigg is a magazine journalist and digital editor. Starting at Cosmopolitan in 2001 she has worked on number of other titles including Glamour, Daily Mail, Top Santé, ELLE, and Sunday Times Style.  Her debut novel, The Note was based on Zoë’s life story.

The Postcard is based on a very popular column in Fabulous magazine documenting Zoë’s year-long round-the-world trip with ‘Train Man’ – a man she had met on her daily commute.  They have since married, and Zoë lives in Hertfordshire with him and their two young sons.

You can follow Zoë on Twitter @zoefolbigg and visit her website for more information. You’ll also find her on Facebook and there’s more with these other bloggers: