This morningI received a letter informing me that the unabridged audio rights worldwide for The Jigsaw Maker have been sold to Oakhill Publishing ltd- available April-June. What a pleasant way to start the weekend.

I can't imagine what it will be like to listen to my words, my characters from someone else's mouth. It's probably like hearing yourself on tape for the first time.

I always reckoned I knew my own voice - deep, light Irish acccent, calm - but somehow the tape distorted it. There was anothervoice, higher, the accent more pronounced, disturbingly familiar while being unrecognisable. I listened a few moments before asking who the other woman was and wondered why I hadn't spoken yet. Even then the penny didn't drop.

I know Lizzie in The Jigsaw Maker; I know how she looks, how she moves; I know what shesounds like.

Or I think I do.