Anna’s Shop Around the Corner in Cronulla is a gorgeous place to send Up on Horseshoe Hill out into the world. This event will take place at 2.45pm on Sunday 24 November. Bagpipes, champagne, book talk and more. Copies of Up on Horseshoe Hill will be available for purchase and signing, and Anna and I would love to see you there!
Many thanks to novelist Jennifer Schoullar for having me on her blog recently. The environment plays an important role in all of Jennifer’s books, and she invited me to write something about that too. Wild animal conservation, wattle, Antarctica and a ghost gum dilemma gave me plenty to write about!
I grew up in the northern beaches peninsular district of Sydney. It was well after horse and cart days—but was a time when, if there was a vacant block of land down the road, it was perfectly acceptable to keep your horse there. I sometimes rode my pony to school, tethered him next to the oval and rode him home again. When I was fourteen, my family moved to Victoria and we lived in a semi-rural district with a goat, a cat, two dogs and a number of horses. My teenage friend Rina (and our horses), were inseparable for many years and we showed and competed together. Rina still competes in dressage, and has had a great deal of success with thoroughbred ex-racehorses. I always look forward to visiting her property and spending time in her stables!
The natural environment has played an important part in all of my novels. It was when I was working as a legal academic and teaching in a course, ‘The International Legal Regulation of Climate Change,’ that an idea formed for In at the Deep End. Antarctica had always been of interest, and I wanted to portray how important this unique and pristine environment is, and how rising water temperatures threaten not only Antarctica, but the rest of the world. My challenge as a writer was tackling these concepts in an accessible way. What would happen if a climate scientist and an environmentalist, with a similar agenda but very different ways of seeing things, fell in love? In at the Deep End not only explored climate change and relationships, but also charted the challenges faced by the 1900s explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen’s ‘race to the South Pole.’ Amundsen was successful, but Scott and his team died in their attempt. Scott’s diaries provide a fascinating account of his journey.
In On the Right Track the lead character is named Golden by her grandfather—an amateur botanist—after acacia pycnantha (golden wattle). I researched and learned a great deal about native flora while writing this novel, and exchanged many emails with a CSIRO scientist who was a specialist in eucalypt propagation. I’d written a ghost gum into my story, set in a rural district in the South West of NSW, and while I knew ghost gums were uncommon in my home state, I didn’t realise exactly how uncommon! The planting of a ghost gum, and its early care, has to be carefully considered for it to have any real chance of survival, but, once my scientist worked out that I had my heart set on this species of gum, he did all that he could to tell me what I had to do to ensure the fictional version survived!
A plant I learnt a lot about while researching my Christmas novella, The Six Rules of Christmas (part of the HarperCollins Our Country Christmas anthology), is mistletoe. Unlike England, which has only one variety of this mistletoe, Australia has many varieties, many of which mimic the look of the host tree through leaf size and shape. As a parasitic plant, mistletoe is often thought to be harmful to the host plant, but it rarely harms a healthy tree, attracts bird life and can be an important source of nutrients.
My November release, Up on Horseshoe Hill is set in the Central West of NSW, and tells the story of a farrier, and a geneticist vet who specialises in wild animal conservation. I learnt a great deal about the hoof treatment of wild animals while researching this novel. Many animals kept in zoos as part of conservation programs have to be anaesthetised when they require treatment, but keepers and handlers increasingly use cooperative reinforcement (not involving force or compulsion, but incentives in the form of reward) in order to avoid anaesthetic. In this way, for example, a giraffe or elephant will place their feet into positions that allow farriers and vets to work on them safely.
My next title will focus on the Macquarie Marshes, a wetlands region in the north of NSW. I’m doing a lot of reading on the environmental importance of wetlands, and planning a road trip (my favourite part of research), in the next couple of months!
Here is a link to my latest newsletter, with lots of news - including a RuBY win for On the Right Track!
On the Right Track won the Romantic Book of the Year (the RuBY) in the contemporary romance category of the Romance Writers of Australia awards on 10 August, 2019. To say I was delighted is an understatement - but that will do for starters!
I was honoured to have been a finalist with fabulous writers Kelly Hunter, Madeleine Ash, Jacquie Underdown and Elisabeth Rose, so the fact that On the Right Track was the winner was very much the icing on the cake! What was also wonderful were the kind words and hearty congratulations from so many other writers on the night, and at the RWA conference. I’m celebrating with fellow authors Pamela Cook and Rae Cairns in one of these photos (I’ll spare you the ones of me on the dance floor later in the evening!)
On the Right Track was a lot of fun to write, and gave me the opportunity to reflect on so many happy childhood memories when I spent all my spare time with my horses. I even used one of my pony’s names in this On the Right Track - Fudge (Mr Fudge was my pony’s show name, and he was a palomino like the horse in the popular television program, Mr Ed).
I arrived home to a big task - the proofread for Up on Horseshoe Hill which will took quite a few days. And now? I can’t wait to get stuck into my next book (which has only been on the back burner for a couple of weeks, but it feels like much longer so I’m missing my characters terribly!).
My lovely RuBY trophy is on my bookcase, I have some lovely memories of celebrations with friends, and I’m so happy that winning this award will let other readers find out about Golden and Tor, my much loved characters from On the Right Track.
On Thursday morning at 8.30am, I will be flying to Melbourne. Why?
Because that’s where the annual Romance Writers of Australia Conference is on this year. My first conference was in Sydney’s Darling Harbour a number of years ago. I was very much a wallflower. I didn’t know anyone, I wasn’t on Facebook (or anywhere else on-line) and hadn’t ‘connected’ to any other members beforehand. I barely spoke to a soul through Friday. And Saturday. But on Sunday afternoon (at the final workshop) I met another ‘newbie’ (a first time conference attendee). And she introduced me to another newbie. So in the next session, the closing address, there were three of us. Brigitte Underwood-Legeron. Sandra Edgar. And me.
The 2018 Cocktail party theme was Glitz and Glamour. Brigitte wore her bridal gown. And we thought I made a pretty good bridesmaid!
Sandra lives in Queensland and writes contemporary and historical romance. Brigitte lives in Perth and writes literary fiction and contemporary romance. We’ve been friends for five years now. And our friendship is attributable to RWA.
Since meeting my very first friends, I’ve been so fortunate to have found many other wonderful writing friends too. Many friends are writers I’ve admired as authors for years. Because as anyone will tell you, romance writers as a group—what is the collective noun? A heart? An embrace?—are smart, funny, generous and an all round lovely group of people.
The craft we learn and the books we write are important, but it is the friendships we make that are what we tend to treasure in life. Writing can be a very lonely business, so personal connections are particularly important. And in RWA I’ve been so fortunate to have shared my writing journey (all the highs and lows) with a wonderful group of people.
But … I really was a wallflower. Would I have continued going to the RWA conference if not for my dear friends Brigitte and Sandra? I really can’t say. But knowing they would be there at my second conference might well have got me over the line.
I pitched In At The Deep End to my publisher at that second conference—the start of my published writing career. And I’ll always be thankful to my newbie friends for their encouragement and support.
So this happened … I was delighted to have been announced as a finalist in the Romance Writers of Australia RuBY (Romantic Book of the Year) award in 2019 (in the Contemporary Romance category) for my Harlequin Mira/ HarperCollins novel, On The Right Track. This award is the premier award for a romance published in 2018, and is judged by reader judges. It is SUCH an honour to have made the finals, and I look forward to attending a dinner on 10 August 2019 with the other four wonderful finalists, when the winner will be announced.
Can’t wait!
Up On Horseshoe Hill, which will be on the shelves - and available as an ebook and audiobook (more on this in another post!) - will be out on 18 November. It’s so exciting when a book has a cover! If you would like to pre-order the book to ensure it jumps into your kindle on 18 November, or arrives on your doorstep around this date, please CLICK HERE for links. You can also order at your local bookstore, or ask your library to order the book. As many readers know by now, I get just as much pleasure from seeing my book on a library shelf, as I do on seeing it on the shelves in a bookstore.
I find the thought of launching a new book a strange combination of relief, joy and trepidation.
Relief in that I don’t have to read the manuscript yet again (100,000 words takes a few days out of my week …), and I can look forward to working on my next book.
Joy because a book release coming up means readers have the chance to get up close and personal with my characters (like I have been for a year or two …).
Trepidation because … it’s judgment time! Much as Up on Horseshoe Hill has been praised by the readers that have taken a peek between the covers so far, and my editor and my publisher are really excited about it, I find book reviews a little confronting. Much as I love writing, I don’t particularly like telling people what a fabulous book I have written (it’s just not me!) so I hope that others will do that for me.
And finally on the release … I love this cover! Firstly because Victoria Purman, whose novels I have read and enjoyed for years, was kind enough to give the book a wonderful endorsement. I first knew Victoria as a writer of novels set in a coastal town in South Australia. These contemporary novels feature a wonderful bunch of characters (look up the Boys of Summer series!). More recently, Victoria has written page turning stories of Australian historical fiction, including the novels, The Last of the Bonegilla Girls, and The Land Girls, both published by HQ (HarperCollins). And the other reason I love the cover? Because there is a horse on the cover, and (even though it is up to readers to imagine what the characters actually look like) I think the model has a really nice natural look, which reflects the main character, Jemima (Jet) Kincaid really well.
I can’t wait to join the delightful duo Cassie Hamer and Joanna Nell for an author event on Thursday 15 August from 6.00 - 8pm at Manly Art Gallery and Museum. It’s a brilliant venue right opposite the beach, and we’d love to see you there.
Cassie’s debut novel, After The Party, was published by HQ (HarperCollins) earlier this year to critical acclaim. Joanna’s first novel, the bestselling The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village, was published by Hachette last year, and her newest release, The Last Voyage of Mrs Henry Parker, will be released in September. Cassie is a journalist, Joanna a medical doctor, and my background is in law, and we’re planning a lighthearted chat about change - the chaos, camaraderie and challenges of embarking on a career in creativity. Click on the link below if you’d like to come along. We hope to see you in Manly!
Here is the link: Manly Author event.
Photo credit Paolo Nicolello
A new cover is always an exciting time. And much as I love the pony hiding behind the forelock, I can’t wait to launch Up On Horseshoe Hill into the world. Especially because early links for the book are coming out on bookseller sites and in other places in cyberspace, and the blank page with ‘cover coming soon’ is starting to annoy me!
Creating a cover is a complex business in publishing, and I pretty much rely on my lovely publisher to come up with their concept. Yes I always have a few ideas - my novel’s covers have all portrayed a woman facing the camera, so I like the age and colouring to be right, much as readers will put their own spins on those things - but the rest I am very happy to leave to the creative minds at HarperCollins! I know this cover will be ‘rural’ in terms of the backdrop, and I am very happy with that. Will Jet be wearing a hat or not? I’ll have to wait and see.
All will be revealed very soon, in anticipation of the late November release of Up On Horseshoe Hill!
Those following the Legal Beagle columns I post here ( I write these for the fabulous Romance Writers of Australia magazine, HeartsTalk), will know they aren’t written as legal advice, but tips that might be useful to writers dealing with similar issues. Because legal issues come up all the time! Here is an excerpt of an article I recently wrote on the law of the sea:
Aidan Turner (Ross Poldark)
Some of the principles on the law of the sea are centuries old and will, I hope, be of interest to both contemporary and historical romance authors.
The world currently has a commercial fleet of over 90 000 vessels. Greece is the largest ship owning country, followed by Japan, China, Germany and Singapore. This could explain why decades of Mills & Boon titles have featured Greek shipping tycoons as heroes! Writers of historical fiction have also written gripping historical tales about the passage of ships across oceans.
The ocean, always intrinsic to trade and commerce, covers over seventy per cent of the earth’s surface, and most of the world’s population lives within a few hundred kilometres of the coast. So who has command of the sea? The doctrine of ‘freedom of the seas’ can be traced back to the seventeenth century, and is based on the idea that, besides a nation’s rights and jurisdiction (power) over ‘strips of sea’ adjacent to their coastlines, the seas belong to no one.
Technological developments, particularly from the mid-twentieth century, facilitated the exploitation of offshore resources, and the width of the ‘strips of sea’ became increasingly problematical as nations sought to extend their claims over the oceans. With rising populations, issues such as the depletion of fish stocks by long-distance fishing fleets, and environmental concerns surrounding pollution and waste from oil tankers and other commercial vessels, were also contentious. The development of weaponry on naval and other craft, as nations sought to use the ocean to pursue (increasingly long range) military objectives, was another matter of concern.
Demelza Poldark (Eleanor May Tomlinson)
Enter the United Nations, and its efforts to legally define the uses of the oceans for the ‘individual and common benefit of humankind.’ Cooperation between nations was intrinsic to laying down international law in respect of the ocean. Many nations signed a treaty banning nuclear weapons on the seabed, and acknowledging that all resources of the seabed are ‘the common heritage of humankind.’ Decades of negotiation went into the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was finally adopted by the UN in 1982. This Convention, or international treaty, means that a clear set of laws applies to water resources. There are over 165 countries that are signatories to the Convention and they are bound by its principles. The Convention provides for:
· An exclusive territorial sea boundary of 12 nautical miles (22 km). Nations can enforce their own laws and use resources within this offshore zone, which includes the seabed and its subsoil, and the air above it. It covers elements like fishing, mineral rights, and sea floor deposits.
· A Contiguous Zone of 24 nautical miles offshore, which can be used to enforce laws on matters like immigration, customs, and pollution.
· An Exclusive Economic Zone gives a nation limited rights over areas of up to 200 nautical miles offshore (provided there is no clash of rights with any coastal neighbours that ‘share’ the same zones).
Notwithstanding these outcomes, the UN Convention allows for ‘innocent passage’ through ocean waters by foreign vessels, provided they do no harm to the relevant nation, or break its local laws. UN bodies have been established to settle disputes between nations regarding the zones, their ‘boundaries,’ and activities within them, and also to develop a body of law that will be universally adopted and implemented.
Principles on the law of the sea are relevant to crimes committed at sea, the arrest and sale of ships, the salvage and recovery of ships lost at sea, and the prosecution of those responsible for environmental damage. Ships that operate in Polar waters (increasingly important because of the proliferation of cruise ships in polar regions) are now regulated by the UN Polar Code.
And to add to my last column… Why does the law treat flotsam, jetsam and derelict differently? Poldark anyone? There was an episode in an early season where debris was washed up on the Cornwall shore after a shipwreck, and villagers waited patiently on the sand to retrieve it. What law would apply?
Under traditional maritime law, there are distinct types of marine debris. Jetsam (the word is related to ‘jettison’) is an item deliberately thrown overboard (to lighten the load of a ship, for example). Flotsam refers to debris in the ocean that got there as a result of a shipwreck, or accident. If ever found, flotsam can be claimed by the original owner (because they never intended to relinquish ownership). In the case of jetsam, the finder will likely get to keep the item, as it was relinquished with the intention the owner would never be able to reclaim it. Derelict is another kind of debris, and is property deliberately deserted at sea by those in charge of it (so it is effectively abandoned).
Our current law is a little different from the Poldark situation. Under the UK Merchant Shipping Act, 1995, for example, there is an obligation to notify the authorities of property recovered from the ocean, and there are regulations around reporting wrecks as well.
All this is fascinating stuff, and much as I’d love to talk about Ross and Demelza Poldark in more detail, I’ve run out of space….
I’m delighted to be involved in an author signing event, in Sydney, on Sunday, 24 March, from 10 - 4pm. The event is hosted by the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA), and will be held at the Bankstown Sports Club. Tickets are only $25 ($20 for ARRA members) and available via this link:
https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=433758&
The attending authors are listed below. All authors will be available for book signings (or just for a chat about books!). Readers are welcome to bring along books they have already purchased, but books will also be available for purchase at the event.
For more information about ARRA, and the event, the link is https://ireadromance.com.au
I’d love to see you there!
SYDNEY EVENT AUTHORS
Alyssa J Montgomery/Alyssa James
Amanda Knight
Ann B Harrison
Ash Hosking
Avril Tremayne
Bronwyn Parry
Catherine Evans/Cate Ellink
Cathleen Ross
Cathryn Hein
Celeste Bradley
Dani Kristoff / Donna Maree Hanson
Ebony Olson
Emilia Finn
Jasmina Siderovski
Jessica Gleave
JO Mantel
Jodi Perry/JL Perry
Kandy Shepherd
Karen Deen
Kelly Hunter
Khloe Wren
Laura Boon
Lee Christine
Lexxie Couper
Maddison Michaels
Maggie Nash
Michelle Montebello
Monique McDonell
MV Ellis
Penelope Janu
Renee Dahlia
SE Gilchrist
Shandi Boyes
Shannon Curtis
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Tea Cooper
I was delighted to be nominated in the 2018 Australian Romance Readers Awards. In three categories! Firstly, for Favourite Australian Romance Author (with other writers I’ve worshiped from afar for too many years to mention!), Favourite Australian Romance, for On the Right Track, and Favourite Laugh Out Loud moment in a romance, for On the Right Track. The awards will be held on 23 February, and I’m really looking forward to catching up with many reader and writer friends.
ARRA is a wonderful organisation for readers, with chapters in most capital cities. It’s very inexpensive to join, and provides a host of wonderful opportunities for readers to discuss books, on-line and in person, and meet many favourite authors at functions all over the country - from Australia and also overseas guests.
I’ll keep you posted on what happens at the awards!
So… I love having parties for other people, but for myself? Not so much. But as On the Same Page was my third full length novel, and I’d recently also had a novella published as part of the Our Country Christmas anthology, I thought I’d give it a go!
Not playing football, but making a speech!
The venue was Better Read Than Dead, a fabulous bookshop in the busy heart of Newtown. I love this shop, but being given the opportunity to have the launch here was particularly special because On the Same Page is set in Newtown, Redfern and Sydney city, a very busy bustling hub, just like the busy bustling pace of On the Same Page!
All of my children attended the event which was wonderful. One daughter drove up from her workplace in Canberra, and another daughter juggled two toddlers and endured an hour of peak hour traffic to be there. There were lots of friends who came along too (and made comments like ‘I knew her before she was famous’ (ha!), and there were a number of writer friends as well. Some writers I had met while studying creative writing at UTS Sydney (also close by!), and some I have met as a published author. It was heartwarming to have their wonderful support. And, of course, there were readers I’d never met before, but they had enjoyed my books so came along to celebrate the publication of another. Wow! I often chat with readers by email and on social media, and at conferences and so on, but it was really nice to meet some new people, and even have the chance to introduce them to other writers they admired - and my family of course!
The venue space was wonderful - to be surrounded by books while launching my book upstairs, while shoppers were downstairs browsing the shelves, and buying books for Christmas, was great. The champagne flowed, the Lebanese dips were amazing, and I signed a lot of books.
Will I have another launch? I will seriously think about it!
Those following the Legal Beagle columns I post here ( I write these for the fabulous Romance Writers of Australia magazine, HeartsTalk), will know they aren’t written as legal advice, but tips that might be useful to writers dealing with similar issues. Because legal issues come up all the time! Here is an excerpt of an article I wrote on cruise ships. What happens if there is a death or crime on board?
If you are planning to set a novel on a cruise ship, if your characters go overseas for work or pleasure, or if one of your characters dies while on a ship or on an overseas holiday, I hope you’ll find something to interest you in this month’s column.
Many cruise ship companies operate in Australian waters, and carry thousands of Australian passengers each year, but they are overwhelmingly owned and operated by overseas interests, primarily based in the US and the UK. The ships, however, are highly unlikely to be registered in these countries. They will be registered in ‘flag States,’ or ‘flags of convenience,’ countries like Panama, Bermuda or Barbados, with little or no control over the cruise ship day-to-day operations. Why? Often because it’s cheaper to register in flag states, and the regulatory requirements are less onerous.
If a crime is committed on a cruise ship (given the number of people on board, this is not an irregular occurrence) it can be difficult to work out who is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of crimes. And to add to the complexity, there are many possible laws that will apply to any crime. There is international law, in the form of The United Nations Convention on The Law of the Sea 1982, the law of the flag state, the law of the countries of the citizens involved, and often the law of the port the ship is either leaving, or sailing towards. Here is an example of what can occur:
Annabel, an Australian citizen, books a ten day cruise on The Princess Charming, a ship owned by a US company, and registered in Bermuda. Annabel boards at Circular Quay in Sydney. The ship is only a few nautical miles from New Caledonia when Sigrid, a citizen of Sweden, assaults Annabel (Sigrid claims she committed the act because Annabel spiked her drink the night before). Annabel sustains a broken arm. What law applies?
The law of Bermuda will apply because that is where the ship is registered. The law of New Caledonia will apply because, within the 12 nautical mile zone, the ship is in New Caledonian waters. Australian law would apply because Annabel is an Australian citizen. Swedish law could also be relevant, as the perpetrator of the offence is a Swedish citizen. The ship is owned and run by a UK company, so the laws of that country would also be relevant.
So… there will be a multitude of jurisdictions operating concurrently. A ship will always be subject to the domestic laws of the country in which it is flagged (there are no Australian flagged cruise ships), but while in territorial waters it may also be subject to the laws regulating those waters, and ports. If it is in international waters, those laws will come into play. And in the case of a crime being committed, the perpetrator and victim’s countries of citizenship will have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute. So there will be ‘competing jurisdictional claims.’ The countries themselves will have to work out who takes action, and which jurisdiction and laws will apply (often the flag state doesn’t want to get involved—it doesn’t have the resources, interest or will to do so).
On a side note, most people are familiar with the notion that if you commit a crime in another country, you will be liable under the laws of that country. The same concepts apply on a cruise ship, and ignorance of the law will never be an excuse. This means that, for example, some medications or recreational drugs allowable in one country might be prohibited substances in another country, and this will be relevant when the ship sails into that country’s territorial waters.
Felix, an Australian citizen, has planned a ‘trip of a lifetime,’ a cruise to Antarctica, for years. He boards a cruise ship (owned by a British company and registered in Malta) in Argentina. He has been on the ship for three days, and is in international waters, when he dies of a heart attack.
Death at sea from natural causes, particularly given the demographic of many cruise passengers, happens relatively frequently. All cruise ships are required to have a suitable storage area should a death occur on board.
What happens to a deceased person’s body will depend on the laws that apply on the ship, and in the next port of call. That destination port might allow the body to be handed over. Or it might refuse to take the body (smaller countries without appropriate storage or repatriation facilities often reject a body). Should the body be unloaded (and, anecdotally, it appears that this will be the preference of the cruise ship company) the family will bear the full cost and responsibility to bring the body back to the home country. This is where travel insurance will be important!
The message from this month’s column is… should a crime be committed on a ship, or a death occurs on board, there are no simple answers to how things might turn out. The romance aspects of cruising are easy to see. But criminals and coroners, diplomats and detectives, could also be part of the mix! Romantic suspense, anyone?
On the Same Page has been a long time coming, but is a story I've always had faith in - and I'm absolutely delighted that it's not long now until it will be out in the world. I started writing On the Same Page (working title Lars from Iconic) when I was a student at UTS studying creative writing. This was my 'break away' from academic and legal work and (together with a weekend course I did with Lisa Heidke at the Australian Writers Centre, where the concept was created) has led to years of new challenges. I've been taken out of my comfort zone many times - but have been rewarded with countless opportunities along the way. And one of the most exciting of these? To see characters and situations I've thought up in my head, transferred to the page, and ultimately to readers (and hopefully into a special place in their hearts and minds as well).
On the Same Page won the 2017 XO Romance Prize. But that wasn't its earliest prize .... I wrote the first draft of the manuscript in 2014 and I think my poor kids suffered with me every time I had to workshop snippets of it in class. There were many groans of Mummmmm. But so much encouragement as well. 'Yay Lars!' was a common refrain. Lars Kristensen is the hero of On the Same Page (yes another Norwegian - though he was brought up in England) but the book is set in Australia, and Miles Franklin, a twenty-eight year old lawyer, is the heroine. But back to the prize ... for my birthday in 2014, one of my daughters, Gabriella, gave me this card. I am so glad I photographed it - but regret not hanging onto the original! You will note that I am already dubbed a 'best selling author' with a golden sticker to prove it - and this happened before I wrote In at the Deep End or On the Right Track (as I mentioned, On the Same Page took a while to finish off!) Thanks for your faith in me, Gabi - and also in the book.
The launch of a new book is always an exciting time, and it's been wonderful to see On the Right Track on the bookshelves in the past few days! I think my children might be relieved to see the book out on the shelves - because it signifies that the story is now out of my hands, and into the hands of readers! Thank you to those who have purchased the book already, and do let me know if you have enjoyed it. Thanks to those who have left reviews on Goodreads or Amazon already - these mean so much to a writer personally, and are useful to other readers as well. I hope you have a wonderful reading month!
Thank you to all my newsletter subscribers who were eligible to win the penguin bookmark and soap gift. I've drawn a name out of the hat and will email the lucky reader very soon. Then I'll send out the gift! And as soon as On the Right Track arrives on my doorstep (I'll get a few early copies before it is out on the shelves), I'll be announcing another give-away to win a signed copy! So if you have any reading friends who might like to be on my newsletter list so they will be in that draw, please send them a link and let them know they are welcome.
Here is the link http://www.penelopejanu.com/newsletter/
And just to confirm, I'm not selling anything and I won't be inundating readers with emails. I also don't share your email addresses or any other details with anyone. And of course you can unsubscribe at any time!
Happy reading as we move into winter. A nice warm fire and putting my feet up is my idea of a perfect evening's entertainment!
I'm delighted to be part of Our Country Christmas (Harlequin Mira/ HarperCollins) a combination of five stories by favourite Australian authors (all set in rural Australia). I loved writing The Six Rules of Christmas. It is set in the fictional town of Warrandale - which is a based on a few real life towns in the beautiful Upper Hunter region of New South Wales.
This is the blurb:
The Six Rules of Christmas
Picking up the reins of her father's law practice, Ariella Blake has made a place for herself in small–town Warrandale. But when stand–in farrier Jack Adamson blows in for the holidays, with his good looks and infuriating evasiveness, he challenges her to embrace the rules of Christmas. Step by step, will Christmas – and Jack – get under her skin?
Jack in the story is a farrier, and I was so privileged to spend time recently with Michael Fruin of Fruin Forge and his team. Michael has worked all around the world as a farrier, his expertise and the stories he had to tell were wonderful, and I hope to catch up with him again for another farrier story that's in the pipeline.
I do hope you love the stories in Our Country Christmas. The book will be available in September - in paperback in bookstores and Discount Department stores in Australia and New Zealand, and on-line all around the world!
A traumatic past, a charismatic stranger and a family legacy … Golden’s quiet country life is about to get messy …
When the diminutive but fiery Golden Saunders falls from her horse and smashes her leg irreparably, and her racing family is disgraced by a corruption scandal, she thinks she’s hit rock bottom.
Then the enigmatic Tor Amundsen, United Nations diplomat (read: spy), arrives on the scene and proves her wrong. His investigation into her family pulls her back into a world she had escaped, and the branch of the family she has tried to avoid at all costs. Tor is infuriated and frustrated by the impossible mixture of fragility and fierceness that is Golden, true, but he is also strangely protective of her.
Golden wants no part of it. Men have pushed her around her whole life. The last thing she needs is an arrogant, irritatingly handsome man telling her what to do. But it turns out Tor has a way with animals, children and, well, Golden…
Before too long, she finds their overwhelming attraction is overriding her good sense, and as they are both pulled deeper into the murky world of dirty money, things are about to get messy, and Golden’s small, quietly ordered life will change beyond recognition…
Can Golden overcome her fears and the shadows of the past and reach for a new kind of future? Will she ever be able to get her life back on the right track?
On the Right Track will be available on 18 June. See pre-order links on the home page. I LOVED writing this book, and hope you will enjoy reading it!
I'm delighted to have won the XO Romance 2017 prize, particularly as I was selected from an amazing bunch of authors (details in the shortlist below).
The prize means that I will have another novel in the bookshops this year! XO is an imprint of Brio, a wonderful publisher of Australian voices, and I am very happy that I will be added to their list of authors. On the Same Page is a novel very close to my heart, because it was my first lengthy creative project, and I worked on it with a number of fabulous fellow students, and amazing teachers, when I was studying for a MA a few years ago. I've never been able to let this novel go ... and it is wonderful that it will now be published. For the details, please see http://www.xoromance.com.au/
I couldn't be happier that On the Right Track will be published mid year (the cover will be coming soon!), and I'll have a follow up novel later in the year!
Author website
