In the past twenty years as a bestselling novelist I've done innumerable book tours both here in the U.S. and abroad. But I knew the tour I started on Monday, February 22 was going to be quite different. This was for two reasons. First, this year is the Twentieth anniversary of my first novel A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE, and I was certain that I would get asked many questions about that book, as well as my new novel, A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART. Second, on this promotion tour I was to be a goodwill ambassador for the March of Dimes, one of the most important charities I know of, which comes to the aid of premature babies and babies with birth defects. Being an ambassador for the charity definitely gave the book tour a whole new dimension, and I felt good about doing something so worthwhile while promoting and selling my new book. The idea behind the linkup between the March of Dimes and my publishers was obviously to make money for the charity. And why not! For the lunches, high teas, and cocktail receptions tickets would be sold; I would speak and sign copies of the new novel, and the charity would make money from the sale of tickets to the event. And at the same time I got a chance to speak about my latest effort, my fifteenth novel, and a book close my heart. It all worked out well. The tour started in Manhattan. On that first Monday morning, February 22, I got up at daybreak and went over to the ABC television studio to do "Godd Morning America." The first person I saw was Tomasina, my makeup artist, who gives me a great television face, and within an hour she had me "camera ready." And then it was out onto the studio floor. You only have to watch Charlie Gibson on television for a couple of minutes to understand exactly why the top brass at ABC "coaxed" him into coming back to GMA. There's no one quite like Charlie on television, and no wonder the whole of America loves him. Charlie walked over to chat for a minute and to welcome me back to the show. And we reminisced for a few seconds about the time I had appeared with him on the show when GMA was touring England. I had been on another book tour at the time, and coincidentally in Yorkshire, when "Good Morning America" was filming in the ancient walled city of York. I was invited to participate, and Charlie interviewed me sitting outside under the shadow of York Minster, one of England's most beautiful cathedrals, and an edifice of much historical lore. But that mild June morning filled with northern sunlight was some years ago. Now we were standing on the studio floor on West 67th street in the heart of Manhattan. Although Charlie was not doing the interview for A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART, he did introduce my segment with his cohost Diane Sawyer. His actual words were, "the novelist who's inspired more women to change their lives while selling millions of books at the same time...Barbara Taylor Bradford." What a nice accolade that was. It was a great pleasure to sit opposite Diane Sawyer, this time under a giant blow-up of my book cover, talking about strong women, my novel, and my work. Her intelligence and grace are two of her strong suits, and the interview went well. I had a lot of phone calls about it later. And as I explained to everyone, you're only as good as the interviewer, and Diane's the best at what she does. After GMA I went over to do Joan Hamburg's WOR Network Radio Show. I always enjoy being a guest on Joan's show. She asks the right questions about the book, the work, and, like Diane Sawyer, she is one of my favorites. Joan and I talked for a full hour, and once again I couldn't help admiring her charm, energy, and probing mind. Another good interview by a genuine professional, who's also a fountain of information about so many things. Later on Monday my husband Bob and I left for Philadelphia, the first stop on our journey across America. The March of Dimes luncheon and book signing took place the following day, and it was held in a famous Philadelphia restaurant, The Marker. The Philadelphia chapter of the charity had a good turn out, and I got a kick out of talking to so many fans who came to see me. I discovered that many of them had joined my Reading Group. (To order your reading group companion to A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART, call the Doubleday Marketing Hot Line at 1-800-605-3406. Or, click here to view the reader's companion for A Sudden Change Of Heart.) After the luncheon we rushed to the airport to catch the plane to Dallas-Fort Worth. I've always loved Texas, that big sprawling, gutsy state, and have visited it often. It's a world apart, just as New York is another country entirely, and the women are a breed unto themselves, beautiful, gregarious, and as well groomed as any I've seen anywhere in the world. At the lunch for the March of Dimes the next day, one of the guests told me I looked like a Texas woman, and I took that as a great compliment indeed. It was a really big lunch in Fort Worth, and after doing TV and radio shows, I stood up to speak to about four hundred women. After the lunch I was presented with a beautiful white Stetson, the only hat I ever wear! And then I signed books galore before leaving to do another television show, this time in Dallas. In the green room of the station, I chatted with that wonderful cook Natalie Dupree, who hails from Atlanta and has a cooking show there. She was in Dallas to promote her own book, COMFORTABLE ENTERTAINING, which is published by Knopf. We exchanged a few favorite recipes, talked about great restaurants and the like, before doing our separate spots. From Texas we headed farther west to Los Angeles, where I did a variety of television shows, including the "Donny And Marie Shoe." This was a lot of fun, and the hosts are charming; and Marie confided, between segments, that she is expecting her seventh child. I also did an interview for the food magazine BON APPETIT, and was told, during the course of it, that my interview was just in time for the issue they're doing to celebrate the millennium in the year 2000! The California March of Dimes event was in Costa Mesa, where there was a cocktail reception, a chat by me, and a book signing. Lots of local March of Dimes supporters came, and it was a very successful event. The reception was covered by a crew from "Inside Edition," who had just done a segment with me in New York; also present were a crew and producer from Lifetime Television, who are doing an "Intimate Portrait" of me to be aired later this summer. I have always liked their televised biographies, and certainly they're very thorough, as I've discovered! On Saturday, at the end of the first week of the national tour, we drove to Palm Springs, where I gave a speech and did a book signing for Round Table West. The afternoon event was held in the beautiful gardens of Merv Griffin's Resort Hotel And Givenchy Spa, in brilliant sunshine under a blameless blue sky! Not a cloud in sight, and just a gorgeous day for all to enjoy. Later I chatted for a while with Merv, who introduced me to his new dog, a long-haired Shar-Pei, the first I've ever seen. Merv has named him Charlie Chan, surely the ideal name for a Chinese dog. Merv and I talked about the time I had interviewed him years ago, when he hosted his TV talk show out of New York. The subject matter, apart from Merv himself, had been the horse farm he owned in New Jersey. Now Merv has one in La Quinta, a resort town not far from Palm Springs. Aside from the horses and the house, Merv told me he also has a race track at the farm. And why not, I said. We stayed at Merv's hotel, and what a treat it was. The rooms are beautifully furnished -- decorating in one of Merv's avocations -- and the surroundings are perfection. Hundreds of flowers and thousands of roses growing all around, and I was particularly struck by the parterres, the low, clipped evergreen hedges that form an intricate design in the center of the gardens. Tudor in origin, dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, parterres help to create a lovely formal feeling in gardens, and are particular favorites of mine. Merv's resort hotel stands in the middle of fourteen secluded acres, with two pools outdoors, and two indoors -- in the Givenchy Spa, the only one in existence in the world. I got a chance to swim and pamper myself on Saturday evening in the most luxurious spa I've ever been in. It was certainly relaxing after a week crossing America. Only too soon we had to leave the blue skies and warm climate of Palm Springs, the following morning actually. After breakfast on the sunkissed terrace we drove back to Los Angeles. And all the way to Portland, Oregon, our next stop, I kept smelling the roses that abound at Merv's hotel, both outside and indoors. An early touch of summer, I thought, as we headed toward the great Northwest, reluctant to leave the desert. On the other hand, I knew we were going to do two great March of Dimes events in Oregon and later in Seattle, Washington. And I was suddenly looking forward to going back to these two places. Part Two I also thought about the hotels we had stayed in on the whirlwind trip across the country. I think my favorite was Merv Griffin's Resort Hotel in Palm Springs, but I also enjoyed the Benson in Portland, the hotel where all U.S. presidents stay. It's a grand old place, old-fashioned in style, but comfortable, and I enjoyed my March of Dimes luncheon there, with lots of fans on hand to listen to my talk about A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART. I had a lot of questions, too, from the audience about art looted by the Nazis in World War II, a second plotline featured in the book. We stayed at the Four Seasons in Seattle, another comfortable hotel whose smiling staff was willing to help with anything. It was in Seattle that I did my Barnes&Noble on-line chat...incidentally, barnesandnoble.com is running the piece I wrote about my favorite women in history for Women's History Month. North Carolina was sunny and balmy, a foretaste of spring, and one of the highlights of our stay in Winston-Salem was a champagne reception at the home of Mrs. Gary Poehling, an active member of the March of Dimes chapter in that city. It was a beautifully sunny morning and the press reception was held in Mrs. Poehling's gorgeous greenhouse at the bottom of her garden. It was called a greenhouse, but in actuality it's what I think of as a conservatory...a spacious "glass house" filled with flowering plants, green plants, and garden furniture. The Poehlings use it for entertaining during the day and in the evening, and it's well-fitted with stoves, ovens, and refrigerators, all hidden in counters. There's also a kitchen attached, of course. Incidentally, the conservatory came into fashion in England in the Victoria and Edwardian eras, where potted palms and plants flourished and elegantly garbed ladies held tea parties. It was at this reception that I met an adorable child, Morgan Dudley and her mother. Morgan is a March of Dimes ambassador and a living example of what this extraordinary organization can do because of its medical research over the years. When Morgan was a few weeks old her parents noticed that she was not moving one side of her body. After many tests, it was discovered that Morgan had suffered a small stroke earlier, but thanks to special treatment, she's as right as rain today. An enchanting little girl, she listened attentively and with big eyes to my story of the dainty crocodiles who lived in the Poehling's garden and wore pink tutus and yellow wellington boots. She wanted to know more, but unfortunately I didn't have time just then. That evening we flew on to Chicago, where I was to give two luncheon speeches the following day and do a series of media interviews. I've always loved Chicago, ever since I visited the Windy City in 1960 when I was still living in London. Both of my talks were at the Ritz Carlton Hotel where we were staying. The hotel holds a special literary event every month in the Greenhouse Restaurant. Again, I had a lot of questions about the art storyline in the novel; people really wanted to know more about paintings stolen by the Nazis. I think part of the interest that day was about a case going on in Chicago, involving a painting hanging on a wall of the Art Institute, and two brothers in California who claim it belonged to their grandparents. How it will be resolved nobody knows, and like the plot in A SUDDEN CHANGE OF HEART, it's a fascinating puzzle to study. Chicago was our last stop on my book tour across the country, except for a couple of additional interviews in Washington and New York. But on that Friday afternoon, as we left the Ritz Carlton Hotel and headed out of O'Hare, I frowned when I saw the snow flurries, wondering if we'd be able to get home to New York after all. Fortunately we made it -- although we did leave O'Hare five hours late!