Swindon is most conveniently located for beautiful countryside, a whole host of heritage sites and some wonderful events, among them the Cheltenham Literature Festival. On this year's pilgrimage Leah and I listened to Clare Clark, Juliet Nicolson and Frances Osborne describe several Women of Substance, the subject of their latest novels. Beautiful Lies by Clare Clark is the story of Maribel Campbell Lowe, wife of a Victorian radical MP, who is a lady with a past, but not necessarily the one she tells polite society. Frances Osborne, author of The Bolter , talked about her latest book Park Lane , an upstairs, downstairs tale of the Votes for Women campaign and one that particularly appealed to me. The third panelist was Juliet Nicolson talking about her book Abdication and the set that surrounded Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson. Three more books to go on my wish list. In the Waterstones tent for the signing we rubbed shoulders, and I mean we rubbed shoulders, ...