Armadillo Central

The Armadillo Central flag is at half mast after the sad passing of author, archivist and historian Gillian Clegg yesterday. Gillian was very much part of the family and quite aside from the personal loss, which is truly heartfelt, we shall miss her incisive wit, her compassionate and sensitive yet razor sharp approach, her precision with words, her thorough attitude to research and her talent for instilling clarity and passion into even the driest of subjects.

Yes, it's Valentine's day tomorrow. In our book that's an excellent reason to tell everyone you love how much you care. Too late to post a card? Just send an e version with your own personal message.

We're all excited about our first ebook launch party on Thursday 9th February. It's virtually all set - we just need to finalise the music with our gorgeous guest jazz singer. Visit our Facebook events page and click join for your chance to chat live online to A Jar of Sticklebacks author David Selzer.

It's Chinese New Year today, 23rd January 2012: the year of the dragon. We've just added Jennifer Copley-May's playful dragon image to our free ecards section, so you can mail greetings and luck to your friends and family.

What better way to cheer up the dark winter months? Following our special pre-Christmas offer, which featured on our Facebook pages before the site launched, we've identified our very first bestseller.

We're thrilled to be handling online sales for Gillian Clegg's latest book about Chiswick, which focuses on the fascinating history behind one of Britain's most iconic country houses: Chiswick House.