Theresa Smith's Blog, page 153

Behind the Pen with Elizabeth Jane Corbett

On today’s Behind the Pen, I have great pleasure in introducing you all to Elizabeth Jane Corbett, who has just released her debut novel, The Tides Between.

 

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When did you start writing and what was the catalyst? Did reading as a child have any bearing on your decision to become a writer?

My family emigrated to Australia when I was five years old. I was raised on stories of Dad’s childhood during the Blitz and Mum’s life growing up in industrial South Wales. Her father worked as a stevedore on the docks. But her uncle had a seat in the House of Lords. One of her cousins, John James, had also been a novelist. Now, being raised in Australia I wasn’t that impressed by the notion of having a lord in the family (even if he did earn the title) but I thought that maybe, one day, I’d like to write a novel. But one day never came. I married young, fell pregnant within a heartbeat of the ceremony, produced four children, lived in Fiji as an expatriate, and eventually studied librarianship (in hopes of being one of those librarians who got thanked by the author in the historical novels I loved to read). But the writing never happened. Then my fortieth birthday loomed. We planned a party, which required a speech. I wrote a list of all that I’d achieved. Then another list with all that I’d like to have achieved by that stage in my life. Writing a novel topped the list. I realised, I didn’t want to be merely thanked in the author’s note. I wanted to write the damned book!

 

Do you have any particular qualifications that relate to the subject matter covered in this novel? How much research do you do?

My undergraduate degree was in history. My Grad Dip in librarianship. However, immigration was the defining event of my childhood. I knew, from the outset, I wanted to write an immigration novel. Though not my own story. It would be an historical novel (because that’s what I like to read), set in Melbourne, so that I could access information easily. I started my research with a biography of Caroline Chisholm and then broadened it out to assisted immigration in general. By which stage, to my immense surprise, characters were forming in my head. One of them, was a young girl, who’d lost her father in tragic circumstances. I called her Bridie. She was travelling to Port Phillip with her mother and stepfather. She would befriend a creative young couple en-route and they would help to reconcile her grief. At first, I toyed with making the creative couple Irish. But that was a little cliché. Besides, I had a research trip planned and I’d be relying on long lost family accommodation. I didn’t have any relatives in Ireland but my mum was Welsh. So, why not make my creative young couple Welsh?

I knew very little about Wales at that stage, apart from rugby and male voice choirs. But rugby didn’t exist in 1841 and, even if I could have invented a situation in which a choir emigrated en-mass, I didn’t think a fifteen-year-old girl would find it interesting. Some quick research told me that Wales had a strong bardic culture. Hmm…I thought maybe my Welsh characters could be storytellers? So, now, as well as reading books, voyage logs, and nineteenth century immigration documents, I was also reading Welsh fairy tales, which were absolutely fascinating. Like wow! These stories were my heritage and I’d never even known they existed.

I’d read Richard Llywellyn’s How Green Was my Valley and knew Welsh people spoke English differently. I could never hope to emulate Llywellyn’s melodic narrative voice but I thought ‘a bit of research’ on the Welsh language would help me understand their speech sentence patterns. To my surprise, I found out that there were Welsh classes in Melbourne. I enrolled for a term, thinking that would be enough. But the Welsh language is so beautiful and, as I followed the twin trail of lore and language I found myself falling in love with the Wales and its history.

 

 

How far has your writing career evolved from when you first began to write to what it is today? Is this in line with your initial expectations?

I had no doubt as to my research skills when setting out. But I’d not attempted to write fiction since a truly deplorable short story in year eleven. I’m a nervous, self-doubting kind of person. I figured if I read too many how-to-write-a-novel books I’d be too scared to start. So, I simply gave myself permission to write. I intended to write an Aussie immigration saga spanning several years. But as my characters boarded the ship, I began to realise my Welsh storyteller and his wife had secrets – and these were somehow mixed up with the fairy tales they were telling Bridie. Somewhere around the Bay of Biscay, I faced a decision: Do I stop and write the tale I’d initially envisaged? Or follow the story where it was leading? I chose the latter. It took about a year to complete a full first draft. During that time, I joined a writing group and got shortlisted for a manuscript development award (so, maybe I could write?). I also did some classes at The Victorian Writers’ Centre (as it was called in those days) and paid for a full manuscript assessment. I’d learned a lot about my characters over the course of writing that first draft but the assessor said the story had no real story arc, beyond the characters leaving London, travelling, and arriving in Port Phillip. She was right. It was time to learn my craft. I enrolled in some TAFE novel subjects in order to learn about story structure.

Then disaster struck, our youngest daughter worked her way through a list of every parent’s worst fears. In between school meetings and missing person reports, I tried to keep writing. But it was hard to focus. I wrote a short story that won a prize. I got approached by a publisher. But my novel, like my life, was all pulled apart. I cobbled it together and made a submission but it wasn’t successful. The publisher felt the story had too many viewpoints. She was right (I’d been stubbornly resisting the notion). I also knew that reducing the viewpoints meant a total re-write. I wasn’t sure I had the heart for the task. It was my first novel and unlikely to ever get published. I wondered if it was time to move on. But I couldn’t. I knew I had to finish the story even if it ended up in the drawer. I’m a little obsessive like that. I feared that if I gave up, I’d keep giving up, once things got tough, and never manage to finish a novel. In the end, I re-wrote the story four times. By which time, my Aussie immigration novel spanning a few decades had become an historical coming-of-age novel set entirely in the steerage compartment of an emigrant vessel. Which is definitely not what I’d had in mind at the outset.

 

 

What did you do when you finished this novel?

I am a librarian. I put books in categories. At some point, as I was nearing the end of my fourth draft, I realised I’d written a novel that didn’t fit neatly into a publishing market. The main viewpoint character was a teenager (which should have made it a young adult novel). But I’d also written from the point-of-view of the girl’s stepfather and the story teller (and I can tell you there weren’t many books with that blend in the teenage section of the library). Not only did it sit between adult and young adult markets. It also had embedded Welsh fairy tales and fantasy elements. I had plotted and researched a second book based on the lives of the characters (continuing the saga in trilogy form). But I thought it would be depressing to write a second book while receiving rejection letters for the first. So, I started researching a completely new project. Meanwhile, I prepared to start pitching The Tides Between. I booked Literary Speed Dating at Writers Victoria which was forced me to get my synopsis and cover letter in order. The pitch was well received but only one publisher asked for a full manuscript. A friend suggested I try some small presses. I trawled the Small Press Network’s website, made a list of possible publishers and began submitting. To my surprise, I got quite a number of requests for a full manuscript. I eventually signed with Odyssey Books, a feisty young Canberra based press who were enthusiastic about my story from the outset.

 

How much planning do you do? Do you plan/plot the entire story from beginning to end, or let it evolve naturally as the writing progresses? In terms of characters, are they already a firm picture in your mind before you start writing or do they develop a personality of their own as the story progresses?

On the basis of my first novel, I’d say organic. But I’m not working that way with my new project – a novel written from the viewpoint of Owain Glyn Dŵr’s wife, Mared. Glyn Dŵr was a fourteenth century nobleman who rose in rebellion against the English crown. He became the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. He is still an iconic figure in modern Wales. But little is known about his wife, who ended up in the Tower of London as a consequence of her husband’s revolt. I am still officially in the research phase, but I have written the first 10,000 words, and I’m honing and refining my ideas by using a number of story structure analysis tools. As a consequence, I know where the story is going – the protagonist’s needs, wants and flaws. Her primary motivations and conflicts. The revolt will form the spine of the novel as the voyage formed the spine of my first novel. But I now know that the protagonist’s personal story must drive the novel. So, I guess, I am plotting. However, when I sit down to write, although I have an idea of what I want to achieve, there will still be surprises. At which point, I’ll need to make a decision based on where I know the story is heading.

 

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Where do you normally write? Is it in the same place every day or are you an all over the place writer?

Facing a blank page takes and enormous amount of courage. I don’t write fiction unless I have time and space for that inner battle. Fortunately, I work part time. So, I have designated writing days. I usually start those days by journaling out at the kitchen table. Anne Lamott’s, Bird by Bird, is my all-time favourite writing book. She talks about shitty first drafts, short assignments, and the negative self-talk writers face. In my journaling, I face those voices and establish my goals for the day. They are small goals. I remind myself the work won’t be perfect. I then move to my writing desk. Some days, I won’t get far beyond the tiny assignment. I will seem to write myself in circles. However, I know that is part of the process – the grappling, the deleting, the re-writing the what-the-hell-am-I-trying-to-achieve? moments are all part of the creative process – and if I just keep turning up, I will eventually move forward. I also know and that, some days, there will be glorious, yes! moments.

 

Do you read your book reviews? Do you appreciate reader feedback and take it on board, even if it is negative? How do you deal with negative feedback after spending so much time writing your book?

I’m not sure about this yet. As having a novel published is still new to me. I battle a great deal with self-doubt – in my writing and everyday life. Therefore, positive feedback is an immense gift and one I love receiving. I am part of a writing group, however, so I do workshop my work regularly. I always come away from our monthly meetings enthused (and a little overwhelmed). The weaknesses in my work have invariably been pinpointed. I’m relieved to see the situation more clearly. I also feel nervous that I won’t be able to improve the piece (did I mention the battle with self-doubt. On this basis, I probably shouldn’t read reviews. Some of them are bound to be critical. I will be crushed. But I suspect I will read them anyway and, over time, will work out a way to manage the criticism. While writing The Tides Between, I kept an encouragement folder. In it, I kept positive comments about my work. I may do the same with good reviews – and burn the bad ones. I’ll let you know who it goes.

 

How has being Australian AND a woman impacted on your writing and/or writing career?

This is something I’ve thought about often, as immigration has been such a big part of my journey. For years, I wasn’t sure my parents had made the right choice. I adore the UK and particularly Wales. But writing The Tides Between has helped me come to terms with their decision. Through it, I have found my heritage. Yet, I’d not have found it in the same way if I’d not found it from a great distance. That distance, that discovery of something beautiful and previously unknown, has made the experience more powerful.

As for being a woman, The Tides Between is a deeply feminist story. At its heart, is a young girl’s physical and emotional journey into womanhood. In coming to terms with her father’s tragic death, Bridie must also consider her mother’s reactions to his death – the anger, the bitterness, her subsequent marriage choices. These from the basis of her thoughts on relationships. It is a story for those who’ve lost someone – through death or a broken relationship – the story of a blended family. So, although the novel is set in the past and steeped in legends, it is about women’s relationships.

So, let’s put that all together and answer the AND in the question. In writing a novel about women coming to Australia as migrants in the nineteenth century I have tackled the issues modern women face on a daily basis. I have used powerfully re-discovered fairy tales to grapple with those issues – tales I may not have found so powerful, if they’d been familiar. Tales that no one but an Australian migrant would have put on a nineteenth century emigrant vessel, let alone interpret in a way that tells such a deeply feminist story. I hope that answers the question?

 

If you could sit down for an afternoon with an iconic person from history, who would you choose to spend that time with?

I have always wanted to go back in time to see Britain before the Romans, or Wales as an independent nation – to perhaps meet Arthur or Cadawaladwr, or Hywel Dda, or Llywelyn Fawr. I have no doubt that meeting Mared Glyn Dŵr would make writing my next novel a lot easier. But then it wouldn’t be a novel, would it? It would be history. So, I’m going to make a writer’s decision. I’d like to go back and meet Taliesin, Chief Bard of Britain. Maybe he can teach me a few things?

 

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I like to read, though these days, I find myself analysing good books and getting impatient through those that are not so fully realized. I walk my dog and ride my bike and go to the gym. I like going out for coffee or a movie with my husband. I also enjoy watching TV series and attending Welsh classes. But probably my favourite activity of all is speaking Welsh, in Wales. Apart from good writing days, that is when I feel most fully alive.

 

 

About Elizabeth Jane:

When Elizabeth Jane Corbett isn’t writing, she works as a librarian, teaches Welsh at the Melbourne Welsh Church, writes articles for the Historical Novel Review and blogs at elizabethjanecorbett.com. In 2009, her short-story, Beyond the Blackout Curtain, won the Bristol Short Story Prize. Another, Silent Night, was short listed for the Allan Marshall Short Story Award. Her historical coming-of-age novel, The Tides Between, was published by Odyssey Books in October 2017. Elizabeth lives with her husband, in a renovated timber cottage in Melbourne’s inner-north. She likes red shoes, dark chocolate, commuter cycling, and reading quirky, character driven novels set once-upon-a-time in lands far away.

 

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About The Tides Between:

She fancied herself part of a timeless chain, without beginning or end, linked only by the silver strong words of its tellers.

In the year 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie Stewart’s mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her precious childhood memories, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairy-tales to the far side of the world.

When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie’s notebook carry a dark, double meaning.

As they inch towards their destination, Rhys’s past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad’s final message. The pair take refuge in fairy tales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

 

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New Release Book Review: Let Us Be True by Alex Christofi

Let Us Be True…
About:

Paris, 1958. After a chance encounter, Ralf and Elsa begin a love affair that will mark their lives. Both already bear scars from their continent’s violent upheavals. The end of the war brought Ralf to Paris, where he feels he can hide from the past. Elsa meanwhile tries to hide not just her past from Ralf, but her present too. As they fall more deeply in love they face a dilemma: can you really love someone without giving yourself away?

 

In a Paris recovering from the Second World War but riven by protests and discontent as the old world order falls away, Ralf tries desperately to hold on to the only person he has ever felt he belongs with, while facing the prospect of a reality where love might not be enough.

 

Deeply moving and sweeping in scope, Alex Christofi’s second novel is an unforgettable love story as well as a profoundly affecting study of the personal cost of Europe’s bloody twentieth century.

 

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My Thoughts:

I have to say, right up front, that Let Us Be True was so much more than what I was expecting. A love story, yes, but more than this; a deeply philosophical narrative of identity delivered with elegance and poignancy.

 

Ralf and Elsa are Germans in a post WWII Europe. Ralf is ‘sort of Jewish’ and Elsa is the very picture of Aryan womanhood: ‘biologically valuable’. They were both adolescents during the rise of Nazi Germany, and while Ralf was relocated out of Germany into England before the war, Elsa only left Germany five years after the war’s conclusion. Each of them are now adrift, no longer able to call Germany home but feeling like interlopers everywhere else.

 

It’s such an interesting concept to explore and one I will admit to giving little thought to. A war ends, but what happens to those ordinary citizens, the ones who believed whole heartedly in the ideology of their nation and its leader:

‘They had all been prepared to suffer and be ruthless in service of a grand vision of the future, without seeing that all one is left with, in the end, is the past.’

 

To begin again is not so simple. People remember and they still hate the enemy; the suggestion of forgiveness is offensive. They detect accents, assess appearances, pass judgement; unrest remains. For Elsa, who married a Frenchman and left Germany for good, her history was still inside her, permanently marking her, preventing her from living her life with ease:

‘She had been a different person once. She knew unutterable words, could see the faces of these men shaved and bound up in the square with signs around their necks, had lived above a stolen shop, praised for not being them. But they lived on as evidence that a complete crime was impossible, that you cannot create a new world, only set new conditions. What would the world have been like without this? These bakeries, these men with hats and ringlets, brothers, husbands, sons, who stepped onto the road to let her pass in safety.

Say they had been a corrupt people, and it was possible to extinguish them. The act of killing tainted the purity of the vision. One could not separate what one was from what one did; one did not accept the truth from a liar. She herself had helped to shoot down planes, the pilots burning in their shells. Some might call her a murderer. What would be done with her and people like her in the coming decades, the damned, silent mass?’

 

I was particularly moved by Elsa and her story. Her life in Nazi Germany was recounted with a natural ease that made the horrors of everyday living within Germany more pronounced. With Elsa, Alex Christofi has demonstrated how impossible it is to leave your past, that ‘other self’, entirely behind. Elsa didn’t always act in a way that inspired admiration, but once you’ve read this novel to its end, her choices along the way make much better sense in hindsight. I developed a great deal of empathy for Elsa over the course of this novel. The weight of a nation’s atrocities must have sat heavily on many shoulders after WWII.

 

Ralf has a different history, but is no less displaced or weighted down by it. Not knowing Elsa’s past – since she refuses to disclose it – he fails to ever truly understand her, yet still loves her for his entire life, a love story to set your heart sighing. He spends much of his life not knowing who he is, where he belongs, or what he believes in. Later in his life, he goes out of his way to make kindness to strangers his main call of duty, and I love this path of redemption. Ralf is a complex character, permanently shadowed by the loss of his father at such a young age:

‘Ralf looked hard at her. “No, this is not my life. We may struggle one way but we are all being dragged another by our heritage, by history.”’

He could never truly shed his past and claim his own identity, not until the very end of the novel, when life finally deals him a good hand.

 

Alex Christofi has a beautiful turn of phrase. He conveys so much through Ralf’s and Elsa’s reflective backstories, concisely depicting both horror and glory with ease and compassion. Let Us Be True is a novel that has imprinted onto my conscience and will stay with me for a long time. If you have an interest in stories about WWII, I highly recommend you add Let Us Be True to your reading list.

 

Thanks is extended to Profile Books via Allen and Unwin for providing me with a copy of Let Us Be True for review.

Origin of the Writer: Renee Dahlia

Origin of the Writer is a series of essays giving emerging writers the opportunity to share their writing journey so far. 

 

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Most Australians are familiar with the race that stops a nation, the Melbourne Cup. In the lead to the big race is the Spring Racing Carnival, and 2017 threw up the epitome of the Aussie have-a-go attitude. The decision of trainer Amy Johnston to enter her middle grade horse Skyfire in the Gr1 Turnbull Stakes against champion mare Winx created much media discussion. Why bother when Skyfire is so far outclassed by Winx?

 

For the ultimate racing fan, this is simple. The owners get to rub shoulders with the best horse in the world (not an exaggeration*), to stand in the birdcage with her is pure fandom. *Winx is currently rated the number one racehorse in the world by the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities.

 

And then there is the gamble, with only seven horses in the field, and prizemoney paid out to eighth place, the owners were guaranteed at least a $10,000 payout. That isn’t to be sneezed at. Skyfire’s owners saw an opportunity and grabbed it. It’s the Aussie gambler at its finest. No matter where Skyfire finished, the owners win, which is why it didn’t matter that Skyfire ran last (seventh). The owners had a fabulous day out, and trainer Amy Johnston donated her trainer’s portion (10% of prizemoney earned by the horse) to charity, creating even more emotional winners on the day.

 

How does this relate to being an emerging writer? As an emerging writer, I have the same long term dream as Skyfire’s owners – to be seen on the same stage as the established, champion writers. For all of us, it is an outsider’s chance in a competitive field, with thousands of other writers submitting their work to publishers. And it might not have worked for Skyfire, but outsiders do win. Often enough to give hope to the dreamers.

 

Racing and writing are both built on hopes and dreams. We forget about the odds of success, and throw ourselves at publishers knowing that most submissions will end in rejection.

How far can I take this analogy? I didn’t always have this dream. I started writing fiction purely as an intellectual challenge. I’d written non-fiction for magazines for over a decade, and after being commissioned to ghost write a biography, longer form writing grabbed me. Why not branch out and have a crack at fiction? Naturally, I chose to write what I enjoy reading – romance. It’s often said that writers should write the book they want to read. That’s exactly what I did. I muddled along writing most days over winter in 2015, eventually ending up with a first draft of To Charm a Bluestocking. Once I’d done this, I wondered what I should do next. I submitted a first draft (yes, so naïve) to an agent, who sent back a timely response in less than three months. Lucky, right! “A good story, but less tell and more show will improve it.” What? With one small sentence I realised my ignorance in the switch from non-fiction to fiction.

 

After that feedback, I made the best decision I could have. I joined RWA, did all the courses, and applied my education to this book and the next one in the series. I pitched this series at the RWA conference in 2016 to Escape Publishing. Kate Cuthbert wanted to see more, sending me scurrying home to edit in all the things I’d learnt at conference. This application to craft and improvement obviously worked its charm, as I became one of the lucky few who win on debut. My debut novel, To Charm a Bluestocking, the third draft of the first novel I wrote, was accepted to be published, and came out in March 2017. In the meantime, I wrote the sequel, but this was bumped to fourth by Escape, leaving me scrambling to write the second book in a timely fashion.

 

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The second book in the series, In Pursuit of a Bluestocking, will be out in October 2017, and I’m currently writing the remainder of the series. The third book in the series is with beta readers, and I will start editing it soon. The fourth one is already written, and the fifth one is at the pre-planning stage. I’ve also pitched a series to the new Harlequin Dare line, and am working through the process of editing as we go with them. They loved the first three chapters, and asked for more. The next three chapters came with a long list of comments, all of which will make the book better once applied. It’s a different way of working, very similar to magazine work with closer editing and faster feedback, and I’m really enjoying learning as I go. Seeing this all written down looks slightly manic, no wonder I don’t have time to watch tv, as I’m juggling this with a day job and family!

 

For the emerging writer, hardly anything in this journey could have gone better. There have been minor setbacks – the first review of Charm was mean spirited and awful (or maybe it just felt like that to my fragile writer’s ego). The sales figures to date for Charm have only been mediocre, hopefully they will pick up now that two books in the series are out in the world. I keep telling myself that my break out book will be Book Five (or maybe Seven or Ten…) I just have to write myself towards that goal. And every time I doubt myself, I try to remind myself that I’m lucky to be in this situation at all. I’ve beaten the odds to get here. All I can do is keep writing, build a backlist, and hope that this will become a career.

 

My initial expectations – can I write a book? – have been well exceeded. My goals with my writing have grown from ‘finish a book’ through ‘get published’ to ‘build a career’ in a crazily short amount of time (less than three years).

 

A horse doesn’t become a champion on one win. It’s the collection of victories over time that builds a champion. Keep writing. Keep trying. Odds are there to be beaten.

 

To find out more about Renee, check out her website Renee Dahlia.

 

 

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In Pursuit of a Bluestocking by Renee Dahlia

When he goes hunting a thief, he never expects to catch a bluestocking…

Marie had the perfect life plan: she would satisfy her father’s ambition by graduating as one of the first female doctors in Europe, and she would satisfy her mother’s ambition by marrying a very suitable fiancé in a grandiose society ceremony. Only weeks away from completing the former, Marie is mere days away from achieving the latter. But her whole life is thrown into chaos when her fiancé dies, mysteriously returns, and then is shot and killed, and Marie risks her own reputation to save the life of the man falsely accused of the murder.

Gordon, Lord Stanmore, finally tracks down the conman who stole from his estate, only to find himself embroiled in a murder plot. The woman he rescues offers to rescue him in return, by marrying him and providing an alibi. Gordon’s ready agreement to the scheme grows the more time he spends with his new wife. Her wit, her intelligence, her calm, her charm: Gordon finds himself more and more enchanted with this woman he met by mistake. But as the clues to the identity of the murderer start to align with the clues to the thief, they reveal a more elaborate scheme than he could have imagined, and though he might desire Marie, Gordon is unsure if he can trust her.

As their chase leads them out of Amsterdam and into the UK, both Gordon and Marie must adjust to the life that has been thrust upon them and decide if marriage came first, can love come after?

 

Buy Links

Escape

Amazon Aus

Amazon USA

iBooks

Booktopia

Google Play

 

My Reading Life: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

It’s back to the classics again this week for My Reading Life and I’m casting the spotlight onto my favourite English literature novel: Great Expectations (1860-1861) by Charles Dickens.

 

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I first came to Great Expectations in Year 12 at high school when I selected it as my classic text for my senior English unit on 19th century English literature. I hadn’t read Dickens before but he sounded infinitely preferable to Emily Bronte and her Wuthering Heights. Turns out I made a good call because reading Great Expectations was one of my most pleasurable reading experiences in all of high school. I loved it, lingered over it, wrote a stellar essay on it and then bought my own copy after so that I could read it again and again.

 

Considered as one of Dickens’ greatest critical and popular successes, Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, an orphan raised by a harsh sister and her kind husband. In the opening scenes, Pip and his uncle Joe come across an escaped convict whom they assist. Years later, Pip’s life changes dramatically when an anonymous benefactor enables Pip to become a gentleman with ‘great expectations’ of a bright and fortunate future. When Pip realises later down the track who his benefactor is, his life is once again spun out of his control. In Great Expectations, Dickens is at the height of his literary skill. His writing is infused with atmosphere, his dialogue and introspection sharp with wit and softened with humour. His characters are so memorable: Miss Havisham, faded and embittered; the cold and haughty Estella, Miss Havisham’s adopted daughter; the convict Abel Magwitch; and of course, Pip himself, at first an impressionable boy at the mercy of the whims of Miss Havisham and Estella, and then later, an ambitious young man at the mercy of the whims of his benefactor and his own compromised conscience.

 

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Why do I love Great Expectations so much? What’s not to love! A crumbling and creepy mansion housing an old bitter woman draped in a disintegrating wedding dress, adoptive mother to a beautiful, yet seemingly heartless young woman; a vulnerable boy caught in a game he neither understands nor can escape from, growing into manhood with false impressions of his future; a love story that was never going to end in anything other than disappointment; a coming of age journey that circles back to its beginning with poignancy . The atmosphere just leaps off the page, pulls you in and doesn’t let you go until the very last sentence. It has a timeless quality that makes it fully accessible even today. I’m certain Great Expectations is responsible for my ongoing love of historical fiction that revolves around old crumbling houses full of mystery and intrigue, secret passageways and hidden letters.

 

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1999 BBC Adaptation of Great Expectations 

 

It’s almost compulsory for the BBC to turn every English literature novel into a sumptuous mini-series – much to my delight. Great Expectations was no exception, hitting our screens in 1999 starring the very handsome and charismatic Ioan Grufford as Pip. I loved this adaptation and it remains my favourite to date, although I did enjoy the updated 2011 BBC mini-series starring Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham and Douglas Booth as Pip (another handsome casting choice). Great Expectations is such an involved story that in my opinion, it’s always told better as mini-series rather than a feature film. There’s more time to let the story breathe; more time to peak and plummet. You’ve got to love the BBC and it’s dedication to bringing the classics to life. You might be hard pressed getting a copy of the 1999 version, my own is sadly a video cassette, useless with a DVD player. In any case, the 2011 version will suffice nicely. And yes, I did watch that 1998 feature film adaptation starring Ethan Hawke as Pip and Gwenyth Paltrow as Estella. Despite my deep and abiding love for Ethan Hawke, this version didn’t do my beloved Great Expectations justice. Not by a long shot.

 

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2011 BBC Adaptation of Great Expectations 

 

I’m going to leave this here with the final words from Great Expectations itself, as they never fail to give me goosebumps, their beauty infinitely timeless:

“We are friends,” said I, rising and bending over her, as she rose from the bench.

“And will continue friends apart,” said Estella.

I took her hand in mine, and we went out of the ruined place; and, as the morning mists had risen long ago when I first left the forge, so, the evening mists were rising now, and in all the broad expanse of tranquil light they showed to me, I saw the shadow of no parting from her.

 

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Book Review: The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde…
About:

Four sisters. One summer. A lifetime of secrets.

When fifteen-year-old Margot and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in June 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the sisters become divided by new tensions when two handsome neighbours drop by, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind. When the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever.

Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband’s previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, and haunted by the strange rumours that surround the manor.

 

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My Thoughts:

There’s nothing I like more than dual timeline Historical fiction that orbits around a crumbling country manor harbouring dark secrets. Deeply atmospheric with a cast of relatable characters, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde ticked all of the boxes for me. From start to finish, I was caught up in the mystery and tension of both eras, the emotional turmoil within the lives of the characters, and the sheer glory of Applecote Manor, both in its hey day and its more recent decrepit state.

 

The mystery of what happened to Audrey links 1959 to the present day nicely, and while I usually tend to favour one era over the other in this style of novel, in this case, both eras were equally intriguing. Eve Chase has done such an excellent job at bringing Applecote Manor to life, her evocative narrative just jumping right off the page. I felt a particularly creeping sensation whenever there was a scene involving a character being alone at the garden pool:

‘Silence. There is no one, of course, nothing at all, just a magnesium lick across the pool that dazzles momentarily, leaving behind her own wavering reflection, and something that makes Jessie lean forward, heart racing, and part the slurry of leaves with her fingers to check that the submerged smudge is not a body bobbing at the bottom of the pool, just a trick of light.’

This type of evocative imagery was maintained throughout the entire novel but never overdone.

 

Jessie, our protagonist in the present day, was highly likeable and roused my sympathies instantly. Trying to carve out her own identity as a new mother and wife, she increasingly compares herself to her predecessor, always selling herself short. Moving to Applecote Manor is not only a new start for the whole family, but also a late in life coming of age for Jessie. She’s a character who shines throughout, honest in her introspection, and I admired her tenacity, particularly when it came to interacting with her step-daughter. I felt the author depicted this precarious relationship to perfection, and likewise, the second marriage dynamics. It would be such difficult terrain to navigate, stepping into a dead woman’s shoes and through Jessie, I got a true sense of this struggle. I always felt she acted accordingly, never in a way that was unjustified or unbelievable. The very soul of authenticity.

 

Margot and her sisters were a delight. I found the humour in these sections a lively addition and there were plenty of moments where I laughed out loud at the sister’s observations:

‘One afternoon Harry invites Flora to Cornton Hall; Pam is actually struck mute for three and a half hours by the swinging left hook of her own jealousy.’

The entire novel is infused with this sort of natural wit, but it’s showcased more in the 1959 sections, the dynamics of the Wilde sisters adding that ‘something more’ to every scene that they are in. The relationship between the sisters, their deep and abiding loyalty to each other, was a wonderful part of this story. They were a unit; them against the rest of the world, and they rarely lost sight of that. Margot herself was a faithful narrator and I enjoyed experiencing the 1959 story through her eyes. She puts up with a lot on account of being Audrey’s pale comparison, and I thought she showed great strength of character on more than one occasion.

 

The mystery itself and how it unravels between the two eras was very well done. I didn’t really foresee Audrey’s fate and there were a couple of other highly tense encounters woven into the plot, in both eras, that kept me reading well into the night. The ending is beautifully serendipitous, with a full circle aspect that I greatly appreciated. With a truly lovely cover, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde did not prove itself unworthy of such adornment. I highly recommend this novel to those who love stories about mysterious old rambling houses in the English countryside filled to the brim with secrets, sisters, and a way of life long past.

 

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde was published July 13th 2017 by Penguin.

 

Behind the Pen with Rachael Johns

Following on from my review yesterday of The Greatest Gift, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Rachael Johns to Behind the Pen today.

 

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What is your favourite…and why…

 

Character from one of your books?

Aw that’s like asking me to pick a favourite child – it changes from day to day depending on my mood (and theirs). So I’m going to make it easy and choose my favourite from my most recent book! But even that’s not easy, cos I actually love ALMOST everyone from THE GREATEST GIFT. I could tell you who I don’t like, but alas, that’s not the question. Okay, I pick Harper – she’s a generous, warm-hearted person who is successful in her career and has risen above her awful upbringing to make something of herself AND wants to help other people. She’s also a radio show host and I always live vicariously through my characters – in another life-time, I think that’s a job I’d loved to have had!

 

Scene from one of your books?

You ask ALL the tough questions, but again (this time cos I have a terrible memory) I’m going to talk about my latest book and my favourite scene is actually the epilogue. Of course, I can’t give too much away but I can tell you that it includes a fabulous hot air balloon ride and might bring a tear to your eye. In my Women’s Fiction books, not everyone gets a happy ever after but I think I give all my characters a satisfying ending (all the characters I like at least). There’s also a scene in this book where Harper meets her biological child for the first time and the experience turns everything she’s always believed about herself on its head! That was a highly emotional scene and my fave to write are definitely the emotionally charged ones.

 

Movie of all time?

Okay, this one’s easy – it’s LOVE ACTUALLY! And I know, it’s pretty much EVERYONE’S favourite. I loved that movie the very first time I watched the opening scene of the airport – I often people watch in airports and loved watching all the reunions and goodbyes. And I’ve loved it all the hundreds of times I’ve watched it since. I love that there are so many stories and not all are happy, but I feel they are all quite realistic. It’s hard to pick a fave, but I actually think mine is the love triangle with the guy in love with Keira Knightly who is marrying his bestfriend. THAT scene where he admits his love for her with hand-written signs.. oh! It gets me EVERY time.

 

Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?

Well, I’m not sure I’ve recommended it in years cos everyone has usually read it, but one of my fave books is Bridget Jones Diary. I’d been trying to write literary fiction till I read that book and realised it was much more the kind of thing I wanted to write.

 

Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?

Hmm… I’m not much of a fashionista but I DO love my nail polish. Once upon a time I had pretty much every colour under the sun and I still can’t resist buying one everyone now and then, even though these days I prefer to get my nails done at the local salon!

 

Drink that you enjoy everyday?

Diet Coke. I know, I know… it’s bad for me, you can clean rust off old coins with it (apparently) but everyone’s gotta have a vice, right?

 

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Treat you indulge in?

Every now and then I like to get a full-body massage. Sadly I haven’t indulged recently enough.

 

Place to be?

In bed or outside by the pool (depending on the season) reading a good book!

 

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Person you admire?

My cat (does that count?). He’s got the life; sleeps and eats and sleeps some more. All day long. When I come back next life, I so wanna be a cat!

 

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Seriously? My mum – she is my hero. She’s the most kind, selfless person I know and is always optimistic and looking for the good in others! She raised me on her own from before I was born and not once did I feel like my life was lacking for not having a dad around.

 

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Season of the year?

I think spring. It’s not too hot, not too cold, the flowers are coming out (of course so are the snakes) and I can leave my office door open and let in the fresh air. When I was little the first spring-like day always made me think of Christmas. Spring still makes me feel excited for some reason!

 

 

Latest Book: The Greatest Gift

 

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Mother: Female parent of a child

Mum: The woman who nurtures, raises and loves a child

Radio host Harper Drummond lives for her career. Every day she meets fascinating people doing extraordinary things, but has begun to wonder whether there could be something more for her out there. She’s financially secure, happily married to Samuel and has a great group of friends — what more could she want? It’s only when she interviews one special couple that she starts to think about whether she could make a different kind of contribution.

Claire and Jasper Lombard are passionate about their thriving hot air balloon business and know they’re lucky to find such joy in their work and in each other. But while Jasper has accepted that he will never be a father, Claire has found it hard to come to terms with her infertility. She doesn’t want Jasper to regret choosing her over a child in the years to come. Is there a way to give themselves a real chance at being a happy family?

Can they find someone who will give them the greatest gift? Or will it come at a greater cost?

The poignant, heartwarming story of two women: one who wants nothing else than to be a mum, and one who never wanted to be a mother, from the bestselling, ABIA award-winning author of The Patterson Girls.

 

The Greatest Gift will be released on the 23rd October. You can preorder the novel now by visiting Rachael’s website and selecting your preferred retailer.

 

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New Release Book Review: The Greatest Gift By Rachael Johns

The Greatest Gift…
About:

The poignant, heart-warming story of a woman who wants nothing else than to be a mum, and one who never wanted to be a mother.

Mother: Female parent of a child

Mum: The woman who nurtures, raises and loves a child

Radio host Harper Drummond lives for her glamorous career. Every day she meets fascinating people doing extraordinary things, but has begun to wonder whether there’s something more for her out there. She’s financially secure, happily married and loves her job — what more could she want from life? An interview with a childless couple prompts Harper to think about whether she could make a contribution. She and her husband, Samuel, know they don’t want a child in their lives, but could she help someone else become a mother?

The childhood cancer that left Claire Beggs infertile doesn’t matter to her husband, Jasper. He loves her unreservedly, and they are passionate about their thriving hot air balloon business in the Hunter Valley. Despite their contentment, Claire is desperate to have a child — she knows Jasper would be a brilliant father and doesn’t want him to regret choosing her over a family in the years to come. An egg donor seems to be Claire and Jasper’s only chance of a happy family.

Can they find someone who will give them the greatest gift?

 

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My Thoughts:

The Greatest Gift is a truly remarkable story, a rare example of a perfectly balanced novel. The deepest of sorrows meets joyous hope in equal measure within its pages and consider yourself warned when I say: pack some tissues. Deeply moving, in so many ways, The Greatest Gift will have you shedding a tear even if you think you aren’t a person who normally cries while reading a book. And it’s not that this is a sad, depressing read; quite the opposite. There is so much hope and beauty, but the very ‘real’ aspect of this story is what will have you reaching for the tissues. This is life in words and Rachael Johns is fast proving herself to be a master when it comes to this style of storytelling.

 

What I loved so much about The Greatest Gift was the way Rachael took a single idea and then built an entire world from it. She gives her characters interesting careers, so in addition to the story itself wrapping you up, you find yourself fascinated by what the characters do for a living. Hot air ballooning! Absolutely incredible. I loved reading about all of the aspects associated with the hot air ballooning business – not to forget the history as well! – and while this has always been an activity I’ve wanted to do, reading about it in this novel has made me want to bump it to the top of my bucket list. And while I learnt a lot about ballooning from this story, in no way did Rachael ever ‘fact dump’. Everything she wanted us to know was woven so well into the narrative that you hardly even noticed that you were getting a run down on the industry. Likewise, with Harper’s radio show; another interesting career, where we got to dip our toe into something fascinating without it overshadowing the main event.

 

Another area that Rachael excels at within this novel is how she doesn’t shy away from including lots of characters. There was a whole host of wonderful – and not so wonderful, but still very realistic – characters within The Greatest Gift, their various supporting roles elevating this novel and securing it as a truly entertaining and enjoyable read. There was also a distinctly Australian feel to the story that I appreciated immensely; kind of a Wrong Girl meets Offspring blending with Monica McInerney. Just delightful! I found the 400 pages slipping away effortlessly as I read all day long (the joys of being on holiday) and deep into the night.

 

What really secured this novel as a firm favourite for me though, was the way in which it examined the many different faces of motherhood. Told with sensitivity and intelligence, Rachael peers beyond the veil of what it means to be a mother, deconstructs that ideal, and builds it back up again with a contemporary view. Science has done much to enhance women’s chances at being able to conceive and bear children when they would have otherwise not been able to. I found Claire’s situation within this story quite moving but as you read on you see that there is so much more to this novel than one woman giving a gift to another. Rachael explores mothers and the influences they have on our lives, both good and bad, and I found myself personally relating to so many things within this story; it was deeply touching and entirely relevant within the context of society today.

 

The end of this novel contains a poignant surprise that I absolutely adored. Serendipity in action. I highly recommend The Greatest Gift as the perfect present for the reader in your life this Christmas. Just make sure to put it onto your own wish list so you also get a copy! Don’t be fooled by the pretty pink cover with those cute daisies; The Greatest Gift will ring you dry as well as fill your heart. It’s a truly beautiful novel and I congratulate Rachael Johns on her achievement and thank her dearly for giving us The Greatest Gift.

 

Thanks is extended to Harlequin Enterprises for providing me with a copy of The Greatest Gift for review.

 

The Greatest Gift is book 60 in my 2017 Australian Women Writers Challenge.

 

The Greatest Gift will be released October 23rd. You can pre-order the novel now by visiting Rachael’s website and selecting your preferred retailer.

 

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Origin of the Writer: Janet England

Origin of the Writer is a series of essays giving emerging writers the opportunity to share their writing journey so far. 

 

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I’ve always written. Still, the thought I might actually be published only crystalised in early 2015 when I read the contract, offering representation by a literary agent, stating in black and white: “Author–Janet England.”

It was a surreal moment that brought much elation, but was actually the start of a stressful journey of high hopes, multiple rejections, a rewrite and finally a publishing contract with a small, independent US publisher for my debut novel and the first of a YA trilogy, Miranda Moon.

Having built a career as a journalist and then a public relations and communications specialist, I was pretty sure I knew how to spin a story. I can knock out a decent media release in half an hour, a feature article takes a little longer. I can put the zing in a speech that will make you cry. But that’s work and it’s not real writing. Not to me anyway. In my own time, I’ve always loved to replace the fact with fiction and had started any number of novels before I discovered Miranda, Cassandra and Andy.

It was 2010 and I was a long way from home, staring up at the Cape du Couedic lighthouse on Kangaroo Island in South Australia, when the story that had been niggling me for months, suddenly started to unfold, scene after scene, as the sun was setting over the ocean and the sound of the waves and a howling gale drowned out anything that might have intruded. I was staying in an old lighthouse keeper’s cottage with my family for a week and before I left, I had written the first 10,000 words.

 

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Cape du Couedic Lighthouse

 

In that wild and remote location, something about this story and these characters finally clicked enough with me that I could see the end of their story. I knew it would take three books to get them there, and I knew the characters who would be important, the ones who would survive and the scenes that I burned to write. I set the first novel of the series in a beautiful place that I know well, Moreton Bay. My vivid childhood memories of the bay, the islands and the daily adventure of sea and sky made the writing a joyous and sometimes almost therapeutic journey.

 

 

I didn’t tell too many people I was writing a novel. I actually think it makes people uncomfortable, unless you are already a well-known, published author. I told the people I knew would be happy to talk about it, my young daughter and her best friend and my sister, who had listened to so many of my story ideas and always said the same thing, “You really need to start writing this down.” She even gave me a laptop to encourage me to get my act together.

So I left that lighthouse on Kangaroo Island, well and truly illuminated. I knew I would have to develop something I was not particularly good at, when there was no real deadline involved-discipline. I came home from work every night, cooked dinner, helped with homework, ironed school uniforms, packed lunches and then made sure I spent at least two hours working on the novel. I won’t say writing. Sometimes it was research, sometimes it was endlessly rereading previous chapters. But of course, many an evening, I was actually writing.

The day I finished the first draft, a hefty 123,000 words destined for chopping, was an enormous sense of achievement. But looking back now, I understand what a very raw product it was.

If I could give one piece of advice, from a person who didn’t see the need to take this advice herself, I would say get someone to professionally edit your work. Being a good writer doesn’t necessarily translate to being a good author and everyone needs a sanity check when it comes to critiquing your own work.

My first sanity check came with a kind rejection from an Australian publisher who was generous enough to offer encouragement, while pointing out the reasons she would not be taking it on. I submitted to many a slush pile and had a few more rejections before my agent read the novel, loved it, offered to represent me, and then sent her suggested changes. Another sanity check!

It was an author friend, meeting with her agency in London, who mentioned my novel to their YA agent. She offered to have a look at a few chapters, then the whole novel and then to represent me. She is a wonderful woman who is incredibly positive about the story, has earned nothing in more than two years from my work, yet continues to persevere. Finally achieving publication has been jubilation, vindication and relief for both of us.

I had another thrill when my publishing contract came through early this year. It also says, ‘Author – Janet England.”

The publishing process has been an eye-opener for me. My novel, that I have written and rewritten, read and re-read, edited and re-edited, has now been edited at least three more times by three different editors thanks to the publisher. There were no major changes and thankfully nothing I couldn’t live with, given it was being edited for the American market.

On 26 September this year, Miranda Moon went on sale on Amazon. Author-Janet England!

 

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This January it will be eight years since I stared up at that lighthouse on Kangaroo Island. Its historic light, 2000 blocks of sandstone, howling gales and eerie isolation do not feature in Miranda Moon. You’ll have to wait for the sequel (which I have finished) to see what I do with it!

 

 

 

 

My Reading Life: Danielle Steel

No jigsaw picture of my reading life would be complete without the Danielle Steel piece. I may not read her novels now, but for a good ten years, they were my auto-buys, the novels I inhaled without drawing breath. When I turned sixteen, one of my aunts wanted to buy me a book for my birthday, a new release hard cover, which was a very generous gift back then as they were often upwards of $35 new, but she wanted me to pick it. I was at a point where my reading tastes were changing and I was looking for something new, and I suppose, more adult, than what I had previously been reading. At the time, Danielle Steel had two new hardcovers out, Zoya – an historical – and Star – a contemporary. I was pretty torn between the two and asked my aunt to pick either of those to make the gift a surprise. I was very much surprised in the end when she presented both of them to me on my actual birthday.

 

 

 

I was hooked. I instantly fell in love with the drama, the glamour, the romance and the suspense of Danielle Steel’s stories. I would find myself crying at some point in each novel along with being thrilled at every inevitable happy ever after. Danielle Steel has always been popular so it was easy to gather a good portion of her backlist and with a new novel released every few months, I didn’t have to wait long between reads. When I was in my early 20s a set of movie adaptations from the Danielle Steel novels was released. Of course, I devoured those as well. I remember how excited I was to see many of my favourite novels on the small screen, and while they were pretty standard in terms of the acting and over-the-top-dramatics, they were still highly entertaining and I made sure I never missed one.

 

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Danielle Steel’s stories had all the hallmarks of a soap opera, which is probably why they were so addictive for me. I was studying my for my high school senior certificate and then for a double degree straight after that, so I appreciated the fact that I could pick up a novel and read without having to really think, yet still get lost in the story in a most enjoyable way. Over the years, I read each and every one of Danielle Steel’s novels right up to The Klone and I, which I didn’t really enjoy. It was, I suppose, intended as more of a fun type of story, but I found it more on the side of silly and resented the fact that I had spent $20 on such a ridculous story when I had previously come to rely on Danielle Steel’s novels as a sure thing. I knew they were formulaic, but I began to question the speed with which she released each novel and wondered if they were all even written by her anymore. She had gone from releasing a novel every three months or so to every six weeks, a task that seemed to stretch the boundaries of believability. So I moved on to other authors and didn’t look back.

 

 

 

Last year I was tempted to check Danielle Steel out again and I purchased Undercover, which sounded pretty good from the blurb. Sadly, I was disappointed. It just seemed like a story ‘half-written’ and I ended up skimming the second half, loathe to completely waste my money by not finishing. I have only kept two of my long ago bought Danielle Steels – No Greater Love and Message From Nam. No Greater Love was a Titanic love story and I read it over and over so when it came to the time when I was clearing out old books to make space for new, I couldn’t bear to part with this old favourite. Message From Nam was always going to be a keeper. I loved it so much it cemented my determination to study Journalism and did much to ignite my high regard for foreign correspondents, particularly those who report from war zones.

 

 

It’s funny to look back and consider the books that you used to love, especially when your tastes have changed and you no longer find those books appealing. I can’t help but admire Danielle Steel’s enduring readership though; she still remains highly popular and prolific with her releases. At one point in time for me, her novels enhanced my leisure time greatly.

 

Behind the Pen with Alissa Callen

Today on Behind the Pen I am delighted to welcome Alissa Callen with a few of her favourites along with a surprise sneak peek at her next novel.

What is your favourite…and why…

 

Character from one of your books?

I’m hard pressed to choose a human character (it’s like choosing a favourite child) so will pick an animal one instead. Reggie is a misunderstood and massive Brahman-cross bull who appears throughout my Town of Windmills series. Cressy rescued Reggie when he was abandoned on a travelling stock route as a calf. His unique bond with the cowgirl, along with his carrot-obsession, are legendary.

Cressy and her sister, Fliss, also believe he is an impeccable judge of character. In The Long Paddock bull rider Denham passes the reggie-test when he feeds the bull carrots. In The Red Dirt Road Reggie also allows pickup rider Hewitt to hand feed him. Then in Under Christmas Stars cattleman Drew also passes the reggie-test. Unfortunately for the drover, Tanner, he doesn’t yet have Reggie’s approval. But in the story I’m writing now (The Round Yard) I’m hoping Reggie will stop bellowing and pawing the ground long enough to give Tanner a chance.

 

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Our own carrot obsessed cow

 

Scene from one of your books?

The Red Dirt Road is out February 2018 and I love that first moment when the hero and heroine meet.

An unfamiliar black ute negotiated the dip in the road, a quad bike strapped on the back. Denham sat in the passenger seat and he lifted a hand in greeting as Fliss and Cressy walked through the garden gate. Fliss returned his gesture, her attention focusing on the man beside him. Through the windscreen she glimpsed masculine features guaranteed to make any single woman take a second look.

The ute navigated the soft corner with ease before rolling to a stop next to the white Land Cruiser. Denham left his seat while Hewitt strode around the front of the ute. Her first impression hadn’t been wrong. Tall, broad-shouldered and lean-hipped, by anyone’s definition her guest would be considered gorgeous. Dressed in a blue shirt, jeans and boots, and with his dark head bare, he’d send the Woodlea grapevine into a frenzy. She studied the tanned angles and planes of his set features. Despite the ease with which he approached, he seemed guarded. Relief slid through her, reducing the tremors in her nerves to a tremble. He’d want as little to do with her as she would with him. Nothing would change just because she had a cowboy living across the garden.

Then Hewitt smiled. Even though his focus was on Cressy, Fliss felt the effect of his slow grin as though he was looking right at her. The rigid landscape of his face relaxed and softened, revealing the humanity beneath. Unable to look away, she fought a frown. Since when did the warmth of a man’s smile flow through her like a sugar rush after night duty? Normally she was a slow-burn girl. The only sparks she believed in were the ones she could see.

Another city habit she couldn’t let go of was reading people. Once a patient had been triaged by the emergency department nurse, Fliss would remain alert for signs of what the patient mightn’t have revealed. Was their pain real? Were they coping? What would their pain threshold be? And just like then, when Hewitt’s grey eyes met hers, she really looked at the man before her. He might stand still and straight, his arms loose by his side, but in the bleak darkness of his gaze she recognised untold emotional suffering. The slight hunch of his left shoulder and the grooves beside his mouth confirmed he was also in physical pain, and not just a small amount. A lesser man would have his shoulders bowed.

Something within Fliss tightened. Cressy had reassured her Hewitt wouldn’t be trouble and she’d hardly know he was there. Nothing could be further from the truth. He already was trouble and she already knew she wouldn’t forget he was around. For this strong and stoic cowboy, whose eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, was unlike any man she’d ever met.

 

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Sneak peek at new cover – The Red Dirt Road (out Feb 2018)

 

Movie of all time?

My favourite go-to movie is Persuasion staring Rupert Penry-Jones.

 

Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?

Since I was a child I’ve collected The Silver Brumby series by Elyne Mitchell. When my two daughters turned out to be readers I passed on the editions I’d kept and I hope they will one day do the same.

 

Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?

Scarfs – for winter and summer. Can never have enough.

 

Drink that you enjoy everyday?

Vittoria hot chocolate with frothy milk

 

Treat you indulge in?

This year – Raspberry and white chocolate gluten free muffins

Last year – Lemonade (not gluten free) scones and lashings of cream

 

Place to be?

Anywhere there are snowcapped mountains – Colorado, Lucerne, Salzburg, Glencoe, Perisher

 

Person you admire?

Anyone who finishes writing a book. This can be such a complex process, and it doesn’t matter how many you write, some books just won’t play nice.

 

Season of the year?

Alternate between Spring and Autumn when my country garden has fragrance and colour amongst the weeds.

 

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Spring in my country garden

 

Thanks so much for having me over Theresa.

 

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A Very Country Christmas – out now