Christine Patterson

Certain cities, like certain men, have the instant power to seduce. Seville, I’ve discovered, is one. Romantic, classically handsome and oozing charm, it offers glimpses of a fascinating past, combined with irresistible joie de vivre. This is a city utterly committed to pleasure. Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that it’s also the city which inspired the legend of Don Juan. I think I’ve probably met more than my fair share of Don Juans, but I couldn’t resist the chance to meet the original. Yes, he was dead, but he has also been brought thrillingly to life in The Lost Diary of Don Juan (Orion, £12.99), which has already sold in 25 countries.

‘Excuse me, madam, you are writing for a Buddhist priest?’ For a moment, I was confused — but then enlightenment struck. No, I assured the waiter, whose smile was, indeed, like the Buddha’s, the pieces I was writing were for the British press. After a few days in Sri Lanka, however, I could see how writing for a Buddhist priest might well make much more sense. Buddhas are everywhere in this beautiful country, a country whose Sinhalese name means ‘enchanted island’ and which Marco Polo described as ‘the finest small island in the world’. It is a country which has inspired writers from Paul Bowles to Neruda and Chekhov, a country whose riches and spices have caught the eye, and invading armies, of not one European nation, but three.