Katherine’s third novel, Margaret’s New Look, will be published on May 27, 2025

Margaret is a fashion curator at a museum, and she is planning an ambitious exhibition about the New Look, Christian Dior’s ground-breaking 1947 collection. Margaret idealizes two men, Dior and her father, and as she struggles to temper her hero-worship, the personal and the professional intersect. The more she studies the beginnings of the house …

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Finding Real Madrid

Katherine spent a delightful month in a Madrid “staycation,” and wrote about the experience.

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The best books on the history of washing our bodies

For a 14-year-old book, The Dirt on Clean has remarkable staying power. Shepherd, a site about books, asked me to write about the best books I read while researching and writing this history of washing our bodies. It was fun reconnecting with these excellent works. Visit Shepherd.com to read about the books I picked and …

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Belle on Wheels: Discovering a love for biking on a spin through Denmark

Photo of Denmark

Until last spring, I hadn’t been on a bicycle for 34 years. So, when my daughter invited me on a family biking trip in Denmark, I can’t say I leaped at the chance. I’m 74, my shoulder was broken in a fall last year and my idea of a great holiday involves art galleries and restaurants, not biking 30 kilometres a day through forests, beaches and fishing villages. On the other hand, what an unrivalled opportunity to spend a different kind of time with my grandchildren as well as with my own body.

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Lonely Hearts Club: Settling in with Helen Humphreys

Picture yourself finding a novel somewhere with its cover torn off and no identifying marks. It is slim, told in the present tense and in the first person, and beautifully written. The protagonist is solitary, with a longing for love that is rarely satisfied. At the same time, nature provides a powerful solace, as does the protagonist’s work, which is detailed, out of the mainstream, and intensely involving.

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