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WEBSITE: http://www.hazelgaynor.com/
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COUNTRY: Ireland
NATIONALITY: Irish
LAST VOLUME: CANR 328
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PERSONAL
Born in Yorkshire, England; immigrated to Ireland; married Damien; children: two.
EDUCATION:Manchester Metropolitan University, B.A. (with honors), 1993.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Freelance writer and author. Formerly held administrative positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers and at A&L Goodbody.
AWARDS:Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary for Emerging Writers, 2012; RNA Historical Novel of the Year, 2015, for The Girl Who Came Home; Best Fiction Narrator prize, Audie Awards, 2024, for Billi Fulford-Brown’s narration of the audiobook version of The Last Lifeboat.
WRITINGS
Also author of the novella Hush, 2016. Author of blogs Hot Cross Mum; Carry On Writing for Writing.ie; and Off the Shelf for Hello Online. Contributor to anthologies, including Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War, 2016.
SIDELIGHTS
Hazel Gaynor is a freelance writer and best-selling novelist. For the Writing.ie Web site, she contributes the blog Carry On Writing, and for Hello Online she writes the Off the Shelf blog. Another of Gaynor’s blogs, Hot Cross Mum, focuses on her adjustment to life as a stay-at-home mother after an earlier executive career; the author collected material from the blog in a self-published book. Gaynor is a recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary for Emerging Writers.
Gaynor’s debut novel, The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic, tells the stories of fourteen immigrants from the same parish in Ireland who book passage on the Titanic. The author frames this material with a story set in the early 1980s involving a survivor, Maggie, and her family in the United States. Now in her late eighties, Maggie has never discussed the ill-fated voyage with her children or grandchildren, but she decides to break her silence to help her great-granddaughter, Grace, in her career. Grace has dropped out of journalism school at Northwestern University in order to care for her widowed mother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Maggie’s first-person account of the disastrous fate of the Titanic provides Grace with material for a feature article that could launch the younger woman as a promising journalist.
As reviewers noted, the novel is based on detailed research and generally avoids the usual clichés about the Titanic, its passengers, and their fates. The author was inspired by the actual story of an Irish community that, compared to any other locality, lost the largest percentage of inhabitants when the Titanic sank. The Girl Who Came Home focuses on Maggie and her fellow parishioners from Ballysheen, County Mayo, who book third-class tickets on the ship’s maiden voyage in 1912. Maggie is a typical teenager, and with her girlfriends she enjoys flirting with Harry, a third-class steward from Liverpool. With Harry’s help, Maggie sends a radiogram back to her true love, Seamus, in Ireland, but the transmission is botched when the ship hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic. Misunderstanding the message, Harry is able to put Maggie into the last lifeboat on the ship, but most of her friends do not survive. Grace’s article based on her great-grandmother’s experience attracts considerable attention, tying the two women’s parallel stories together in a tidy conclusion.
Writing in Booklist, Bridget Thoreson wrote that the author uses standard tropes of the Titanic story but makes the novel fresh through her focus on ordinary characters and the impact of the tragedy on their lives. The author incorporates journal entries, telegrams, letters, and other kinds of archival material into the narrative; a writer for Kirkus Reviews said that some of this material is real and “some convincingly faux.” Commenting on Page 69 Test, a blog based on Marshall McLuhan’s advice to start reading a novel on page sixty-nine to determine if it is worthy of one’s attention, Gaynor stated: “I particularly enjoyed writing Maggie’s journal entries. She was a lovely character to write and I found that her voice developed very naturally on the page. I always felt that she was very real—sitting on my shoulder, making sure I got it right!”
Gaynor’s novel, said the Kirkus Reviews contributor, “surpasses, in subtlety if not in scope, so many flashier treatments” of the Titanic disaster. The Girl Who Came Home became a New York Times best seller.
Gaynor had been fascinated by the Titanic story since her teenage years, when Robert Ballard found the wreck of the ship in 1985. Recounting her fascination with this discovery in an interview on the Book Cellar Web site, the author stated: “I wanted to know more about the people who had sailed on her—who had owned that suitcase? Who had worn those shoes that now lay on the seabed? … I especially wanted to explore the experience of a third class passenger on Titanic, the aftermath of the disaster and how such an event can have lasting repercussions on a survivor’s life. Through my character, Maggie Murphy, I hope to allow readers to immerse themselves in an aspect of the Titanic disaster they might not have previously considered.”
A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London’s Flower Sellers, released in 2015, is set in London in 1876. It tells the story of two flower-selling sisters, Florrie and Rosie, who are accidentally separated. Nearly forty years later, a woman named Tilly Harper finds Florrie’s letters about Rosie and determines to find out what became of the sisters. In an interview with Emily Hourican for the Irish Independent Web site, Gaynor discussed the development of the book’s plot, stating: “I imagined what it would be like if all you had was your sister. I have an older sister, and we’re very reliant on each other. I lost my mum when I was twenty-three, so my sister and I are incredibly close, because it’s just the two of us, and our dad.”
Carol Gladstein, a reviewer in Booklist, described A Memory of Violets as “a fascinating examination of one city’s rich history and the often forgotten people who lived in it.” “A tidy ending and sweet romance will satisfy readers hoping to exhale a long, contented sigh,” suggested Stacey Hayman in Xpress Reviews.
In an interview with Joyce Lamb for the Happy Ever After Web site, Gaynor described the plot of her 2016 novel, The Girl from the Savoy. She stated: “ The Girl from the Savoy is set in London in the early 1920s. It tells the story of two women from very different backgrounds: Dolly is a new chambermaid at London’s iconic Savoy Hotel and she longs for a better life. Loretta is a famous actress in the West End. Both are struggling in the aftermath of the Great War, which has left them carrying secrets and regrets.” Gaynor continued: “When Dolly replies to an advertisement for a composer’s muse, she is thrust into the exhilarating theatre scene and into the lives of Loretta and her brother, Perry. A brighter future beckons, but at what cost?” Gaynor told Jennifer Tanner, a contributor to the Romance University Web site: “The idea for the book developed from a conversation with my editor about our love of the 1920s. I was intrigued by the social scene of London’s iconic hotels during the era and by the idea of an ordinary working girl who had access to the rooms of the famous guests she idolized. That working girl became Dolly Lane. I saw her very clearly in my mind and loved developing and writing her story. Dolly is plucky heroine. She’s flawed and makes mistakes, but is a hopeless dreamer. I really hope readers will root for her!”
A critic in Kirkus Reviews remarked: “Gaynor … a good storyteller, mars her tale by straining too hard for profundity and relying on hyperbole.” The same critic concluded: “This flapper-era cocktail ultimately has more fizzle than fizz.” Other assessments of the volume were more favorable. “Clearly documenting author Hazel Gaynor as an impressively gifted storyteller, The Girl from the Savoy is a deftly crafted and compelling read from first page to last,” asserted Mary Cowper in MBR Bookwatch. Gladstein, writing in Booklist, noted that the book “is filled with rich period details and unforgettable characters.”
(open new)The Cottingley Secret jumps from sections set in 1917, during WWI, to the present day. In the sections from the earlier time period, cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright unintentionally become famous when the stage realistic photographs of Frances appearing as though she is interacting with fairies. Frances and Elsie are intimidated by the attention and determine never to divulge their secret. Generations later, an Irishwoman named Olivia parses through the contents of her grandfather’s bookstore, which she has just inherited. There, she finds a letter from Frances, in which she explains the great hoax. Meanwhile, Olivia deals with relationship troubles, infertility, and caregiving. The book borrows details from the true story of the fairy photos. Gladstein, the Booklist contributor, called the book “beautifully written and expertly researched.” “Gaynor … creates a lovely meditation on the power of belief and hope,” asserted a writer in Kirkus Reviews.
In The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: A Novel, Grace Darling and her father rescue shipwreck victims, including Sarah Dawson. Grace becomes famous for her bravery in the face of a storm. Years later, a pregnant teen named Matilda travels from Ireland to Rhode Island to work at a relative’s lighthouse. There, Matilda learns that she is a descendant of Sarah and obtains information on Grace’s life. “Gaynor’s writing is capable, though the story is slight,” commented a critic in Publishers Weekly.
Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly’s Royal Wedding is Gaynor’s first collaborative novel with author Heather Webb. In it, the authors tell the story of actress Kelly’s wedding to Prince Rainier, weaving in fictional characters, including a perfumer called Sophie and a tabloid photographer named Jim. After Sophie protects Grace by preventing Jim from taking her photo, Sophie and Jim begin a complicated romance. In an interview with a contributor to the Book Notions website, Gaynor discussed her collaboration with Webb, stating: “It’s such fun to share the creative journey when I’m co-writing with Heather. We’ve learnt a lot from each other’s writing processes and often bounce ideas off each other for our solo projects.” Writing again in Booklist, Gladstein described the book as “a deeply satisfying tale of love and friendship, and a reminder of the power of second chances.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer called it “a scrumptious concoction served up with delectable descriptions and heaps of emotion.”
Sisters Clara and Madeleine are forced to examine the tensions between them in Three Words for Goodbye: A Novel. At their grandmother’s request, they travel Europe together, delivering letters on her behalf and encountering important historical figures along the way. Bridget Thoreson, critic in Booklist, called the book “charming historical fiction.”
The Last Lifeboat is another historical novel by Gaynor, this time set during WWII. Gaynor discussed her inspiration for the story in an interview with Cindy Burnett, writer on the Buzzwebsite, stating: “I was interested in the history of WWII evacuees and Operation Pied Piper, a mass evacuation campaign where children were sent to the countryside from Britain’s towns and cities most at risk of bombing raids, and while researching that I came across the phrase ‘seavacuees’ and was intrigued. Children being sent overseas was a less well-known evacuee story. But it was an account of an evacuee ship torpedoed in the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors, lost at sea for eight days, that sparked the idea for my story.” The book stars Alice, a teacher who is aboard the last lifeboat, and Lily, the mother of a boy who dies at sea. In an interview with Robert Lee Brewer, contributor to the Writer’s Digest website, Gaynor stated: “I hope readers will be immersed in the story and become emotionally connected with my characters. I also hope they might discover a part of history they weren’t aware of before reading the book but should never feel that they’ve attended a history lesson. I believe every book has a different message for every reader; that everyone will find within the pages whatever they were meant to find.” Victoria Kollar, reviewer in Library Journal,called The Last Lifeboat “a well-written novel about taking chances and facing loss.” Booklist writer, Merle Jacob, suggested that it “will keep readers riveted and avidly turning pages.” (close new)
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2014, Bridget Thoreson, review of The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic, p. 26; January 1, 2015, Carol Gladstein, review of A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London’s Flower Sellers, p. 53; June 1, 2016, Carol Gladstein, review of The Girl from the Savoy, p. 58; July 1, 2017, Carol Gladstein, review of The Cottingley Secret, p. 31; October 1, 2018, Melissa Norstedt, review of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, p. 29; June 1, 2019, Carol Gladstein, review of Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly’s Royal Wedding, p. 48; May 15, 2021, Bridget Thoreseon, review of Three Words for Goodbye: A Novel, p. 37; May 1, 2023, Merle Jacob, review of The Last Lifeboat, p. 22.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2014, review of The Girl Who Came Home; April 15, 2016, review of The Girl from the Savoy; June 1, 2017, review of The Cottingley Secret.
Library Journal, March 1, 2016, Stacey Hayman, review of Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War, p. 96; June, 2023, Victoria Kollar, review of The Last Lifeboat, p. 107.
MBR Bookwatch, July, 2016, Mary Cowper, review of The Girl from the Savoy.
Publishers Weekly, August 27, 2018, review of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: A Novel, p. 88; May 6, 2019, review of Meet Me in Monaco, p. 35.
Xpress Reviews, February 13, 2015, Stacey Hayman, review of A Memory of Violets.
ONLINE
Book Cellar, http://www.thebookcellarx.com/ (April 17, 2014), interview with Hazel Gaynor.
Book Notions, https://booknotions.com/ (April 17, 2024), author interview.
Buzz, https://thebuzzmagazines.com/ (June 15, 2023), Cindy Burnett, author interview.
Dublin Book Festival website, https://dublinbookfestival.com/ (October 26, 2023), author interview.
Examiner Online, http://www.examiner.com/ (August 13, 2014), Kayla Posney, interview with Hazel Gaynor.
Fresh Fiction, https://blog.freshfiction.com/ (June 14, 2023), author interview.
Happy Ever After, http://happyeverafter.usatoday.com/ (June 7, 2016), Joyce Lamb, author interview.
HarperCollins website, http://www.harpercollins.com/ (September 11, 2014), synopsis of The Girl Who Came Home.
Hazel Gaynor website, https://hazelgaynor.com (April 17, 2024).
Irish Independent Online, http://www.independent.ie/ (April 27, 2015), Emily Hourican, author interview.
Page 69 Test, http://page69test.blogspot.com/ (March 28, 2014), Hazel Gaynor, “The Girl Who Came Home.”
Romance University, http://romanceuniversity.org/ (July 25, 2016), Jennifer Tanner, author interview.
Writer’s Digest, https://www.writersdigest.com/ (June 13, 2023), Robert Lee Brewer, author interview.
Writing.ie, https://www.writing.ie/ (August 8, 2017), article by author.
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times and international bestselling author. Her new novel, THE LAST LIFEBOAT, will be published in June 2023.
Her most recent historical novel, set in China during WW2, published as The Bird In The Bamboo Cage, in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and as When We Were Young & Brave in the USA and Canada, was an Irish Times bestseller, a National Bestseller in the USA and was shortlisted for the 2020 Irish Book Awards.
Hazel’s 2014 debut novel The Girl Who Came Home—A Novel of the Titanic won the 2015 Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Novel of the Year, A Memory of Violets, was a 2015 WHSmith Fresh Talent pick. Both books will be republished in paperback and ebook in June 2023. The Girl from The Savoy was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards, and The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter was shortlisted for the 2019 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award and the 2021 Grand Prix du Roman Historique.
Last Christmas in Paris (co-written with Heather Webb) won the 2018 Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award, and their second collaboration, Meet Me In Monaco, was shortlisted for the 2020 Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Novel of the Year. Their latest co-written novel, Three Words For Goodbye, was chosen by Prima Magazine as a Book of the Year 2021. Their next co-written novel, Christmas With The Queen, will be published in 2024.
Hazel’s work has been translated into eighteen languages and is published in twenty-five territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her husband and two children. She is represented by Michelle Brower of Trellis Literary Management.
QUOTED: "It’s such fun to share the creative journey when I’m co-writing with Heather. We’ve learnt a lot from each other’s writing processes and often bounce ideas off each other for our solo projects."
Q&A With Hazel Gaynor
New Information about Upcoming Book Related News
Q&A With Hazel Gaynor
This afternoon I’m doing a Q&A with USA Today Bestselling author Hazel Gaynor. Hazel has written the novels “The Contingley Secret,” “The Girl From The Savoy,” “A Memory Of Violets,” “When We Were Young & Brave,” “The Girl Who Came Home,” and “The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter”. Hazel has also written many books with Heather Webb, who I did a Q&A with back in the summer of 2022, which include, “Three Words for Goodbye,” “Meet Me In Monaco,” & “Last Christmas in Paris” .
Q: At what point in your life did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: I was a very early reader and always had access to lots of books as a child as we visited the library every week. I’ve always loved creative writing, but I had no idea how to write a novel, or how to go about getting one published. I wrote scraps of novels for years before writing my first full novel in 2001. While it was never published, it taught me the discipline needed to sit down and write, and also taught me how much I loved writing. I then wrote and self-published The Girl Who Came Home in 2012, which eventually led to my publishing deal with HarperCollins in 2014. Ten books on, I’m still so excited to be writing.
Q: Does Hollywood have the rights to any of your novels?
A: Not yet, but I can always dream!
Q: What advice do you have for anyone wanting to be a writer, especially for anyone wanting to write historical fiction like you do?
A: Start writing! It really is the only way to find out if you really want to do this, if you’re prepared to make sacrifices to find time to write, and if you really have a story you want to tell. First drafts don’t have to be perfect, they just have to be written – then the real writing starts.
Q: If you had to choose out of all your novels, which one was your favorite one to write?
A: Such a hard question to answer as each book has led me to a different piece of history and different characters. There was something magical and charming about immersing myself in the world of Frances and Elsie in The Cottingley Secret, and I loved writing Grace Darling on the page in The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter. Apart from Meet Me in Monaco, which I co-write with Heather Webb and features Princess Grace of Monaco, Grace Darling is the only real person I have written into my novels.
Q: What were your favorite novels you read so far this year?
A: I absolutely loved Yellowface by R.F.Kuang, and Weyward by Emilia Hart. I also loved Kristin Harmel’s beautiful WW2 novel, The Paris Daughter which will be published this June.
Q: What’s it like writing with someone else? Do you enjoy writing solo or do you love writing with Heather Webb the best?
A: I love both, and they actually complement each other really well. It’s such fun to share the creative journey when I’m co-writing with Heather. We’ve learnt a lot from each other’s writing processes and often bounce ideas off each other for our solo projects.
Q: What advice do you have for anyone wanting to have someone else be a co-writer with them?
A: The most important thing – as with any book – is to have a great idea and to bring the passion for that idea to the page every day. Think about how it will work with a co-writer from a practical point of view. Writing with someone else involves a huge amount of trust and creative flexibility. This isn’t necessarily going to work with your best friend! Think about it carefully before committing.
Q: I saw in your Instagram bio that in June 2023 your next novel “The Last Lifeboat will be published. Can you spoil a little bit about what it’s about?
A: Two women’s lives become fatefully entwined when an evacuee ship carrying British children to Canada during WW2 is torpedoed in the Atlantic. Alice King finds herself in a lifeboat with other survivors while, in London, Lily Nicholls desperately awaits news of her children. Inspired by true events, The Last Lifeboat is a very different story of WW2, a story of human courage and endurance, and I’m so excited for readers to turn the first page!
Q: Are you writing any new novels by yourself and with Heather Webb? If so can you spoil a little bit about them?
A: Yes, and I am very excited about both! I can’t say too much about my next solo novel yet, but I can share that it takes place during the dust bowl era of the 1930s and will be my first novel set entirely in the USA. Driven by an intriguing female character and her estranged niece, the story explores themes of self-discovery, finding hope within adversity, and how far we will go to protect those we love. It was pitched to my editor as ‘a story you already know; a woman you don’t’, and I can’t wait to share more detail in the coming months!
Heather and I are currently writing Christmas WithThe Queen, which is set over the first five Christmas seasons of Queen Elizabeth IIs reign and revolves around a will-they-won’t-they romance between a chef in the royal household and a royal correspondent working for the BBC. We’re having such fun writing it!
2 minutes with… Hazel Gaynor
Published 26/10/2023
The Dublin Book Festival is fast approaching and as a part of our History Programme we are very excited to have the chance to have a chat with Hazel Gaynor about all things historical fiction and her brand new novel, The Last Lifeboat.
Hazel is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Irish Times bestselling author of historical fiction, including her debut The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown award and The Bird in the Bamboo Cage was shortlisted for the 2020 Irish Book Awards. The Last Lifeboat has just been shortlisted in the An Post Irish Book Awards, in the National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the Year category. She is published in twenty languages and twenty-seven countries.
In many of your books you explore very particular time periods and tell stories set during real historical events. What is it about historical fiction that draws you to the genre?
Discovering forgotten stories and voices from the past is so fascinating, and it is such a joy and a privilege to reimagine these people and events on the page. Like all fiction, historical fiction aims to entertain, to provoke reaction and discussion, and to consider the world through someone else’s experience. Human emotions are evergreen, so regardless of the time and place, I aim to create characters who are relatable to contemporary readers. While conscious of not being constrained by the history – this is why I write historical fiction rather than factual history – I am always mindful of being respectful of the history and the people who lived through the events I am reimagining. Creating an authentic version of life from that era on the page is really important to me. I hope readers will be entertained and moved, and that they will finish the book feeling emotionally connected to my characters, while having also discovered a part of history they might not have been aware of.
How did you go about researching the novel?
I was interested in the history of WW2 evacuees and Operation Pied Piper, a mass evacuation campaign where children were sent away from Britain’s towns and cities at the outbreak of war in 1939. However, I wasn’t aware of overseas evacuations until I came across the phrase ‘seaevacuees’ in a historical document. Further research led me to an astonishing account of an evacuee ship travelling from Liverpool to Canada that was torpedoed in the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors, lost at sea for eight days. This was the spark of the idea for The Last Lifeboat. I did a lot of broad research initially to help me understand the events surrounding overseas evacuation, and this phase of WW2, and continued researching finer details through every stage of the writing process (in this case over several years), right down to final edits. Much of my research isn’t written into the book but more informs my understanding of the place and time in order to create an authentic world for my reader. The best historical fiction allows the history and the research to settle quietly onto the page rather than shouting about it!
What was the most enjoyable thing about writing this novel? What was the most challenging?
The sense of confinement and claustrophobia in the lifeboat was particularly challenging to capture. To depict a sense of fear and helplessness, and to write every scene in the same confined setting while maintaining emotion and tension wasn’t easy, but I love a challenge! Reading survivor accounts from the actual lifeboat was incredibly helpful, as was reading other survival stories. I’m also terrified of deep water so I pulled on a lot of my own fears while imagining these scenes. I always enjoy discovering something new while I’m researching a book, and with The Last Lifeboat, it was Mass-Observation – a national social observation experiment carried out during WW2 when 500 ordinary men and women kept personal diaries of their experience of war in Britain. The diaries vary considerably in style and content and provide a fascinating insight into the thoughts, fears, emotions – and often dark humour – of the time. Any primary material like this is wonderful for a novelist.
What historical time period/moment would you have liked to live through yourself?
I’ve always thought the post-war eras of the 1920s and 1950s would have been fascinating times to live through, with a return to peace and freedom after so many years of war and restrictions, and the societal changes brought on by war, particularly for women. Also, these are my two favourite periods of fashion!
Can you tell me about another event during the Dublin Book Festival that you are looking forward to?
Naturally, I‘m drawn to the history events! The Lamplighters of the Phoenix Park talk sounds fascinating, and the event Asylum: Inside Grangegorman which looks at the lives of those who lived in the Richmond Lunatic Asylum at Grangegorman in 1814 has also caught my eye. Plenty of inspiration there for any historical novelist.
To hear Hazel discuss her new novel The Last Lifeboat further, along with two other fantastic historical fiction writers, Liz McManus and Mary Morrissy, come along to the Writing History event Saturday 11th November in the beautiful National Library of Ireland! TICKETS HERE
On Writing … and Keeping on Writing by Hazel Gaynor
Writing.ie | Resources | Better Fiction Guides | Writers’ Tips
Hazel Gaynor 1
Hazel Gaynor
8 August 2017
April 1st 2014 was a Tuesday, and the day my debut novel was published in North America. I remember it so clearly. The excitement, the disbelief that it had finally happened, the anxiety (mostly, the anxiety), the mess of my house. Three years and four months on, I’m experiencing the same emotions about my fourth novel, The Cottingley Secret. I’m just as excited, just as surprised it ever got written, just as nervous about reader reaction, and my house is just as untidy as I ride out the wave of publication fever. But surely by book four I should be calmer. More confident. No?
Not necessarily.
I’m often asked if it gets easier with each book, and I can tell you it doesn’t. Not really. Of course, what does become easier is knowing what to expect, and writing to a confirmed contract. The guarantee of publication certainly makes life a lot less stressful than the uncertainty of submitting a manuscript. But in many ways, each book I write is my debut. Each one takes the same amount of dedication and self-belief to write. Each one is a struggle and a joy. Each one leaves my hands full of just as much passion and hope as the last.
For me, writing was never about the one book they say we all have within us. It was always about building a new career, becoming an author with a backlist, telling those forgotten stories from history which I am fascinated by and passionate about. But how do you keep showing up and getting the words down book after book, year after year? How do you find the same enthusiasm fourth time around as first time around? HOW?!
Here’s how.
1. Practical things first. If writing is your job, it’s your job to write. You commit to the 9-5, or whatever fraction of the working day is yours. If you don’t write a book, you don’t earn a salary. If I took ten years to write a book, my children would be extremely hungry – fact. If writing isn’t your full-time or only job, you grab whatever hours you can and protect them fiercely. Game of Thrones might well be about William and Kate for all I know.
2. Most writers are at least a year ahead, so what looks like a book being written every year when publication date comes around is probably a book being written every 18 months to two years.
3. Write quickly, and type quickly. Every little helps.
4. If a book is working, it’s working. A book isn’t necessarily better because it took eight years to drip out of someone’s bleeding fingertips. John Boyne wrote the entire first draft of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas in two and a half days. I rest my case.
5. Books produced within an annual publishing cycle are not ‘churned out’ – ugh, how I loathe that phrase. They are still nurtured and coaxed, refined and finessed. They are written with passion and care and energy and enthusiasm. See points 4) and 2) above.
6. If you have lots of ideas that you’re excited to work on, you want to get cracking. And, let’s be honest, the final stages of any book are a slog. What better than to wave it off and start again. Blank page. Potential. Excitement.
7. It isn’t about having a magic formula, or Scribner, or a Mac Book something or other. Writing is only ever about two things: passion and hard work. If you want to write the book, write the book. Nobody is going to write it for you.
8. Passion.
9. Hard work.
10. Passion and hard work.
There are plenty of unknowns in the publishing industry, but what I do know is that I am the only one who can write a Hazel Gaynor book. To do that for a fourth time is both a privilege and a pleasure, and I can’t wait to continue writing the fifth. Yes. It’s already well underway.
The Cottingley Secret re-imagines the events of the famous Cottingley fairies hoax of a century ago. It is available now in North America, and will be published in Ireland (and the UK in ebook) on 7th September.
(c) Hazel Gaynor
About The Cottingley Secret:
1917: When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, announce they have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when the great novelist, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, endorses the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a sensation; their discovery offering something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war.
One hundred years later… When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript and a photograph in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story of the two young girls who mystified the world. As Olivia is drawn into events a century ago, she becomes aware of the past and the present intertwining, blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, will Olivia find a way to believe in herself?
The image here is the Irish/UK edition of The Cottingley Secret. The image in the article above is the front cover of the U.S. edition, out now.
Pre-order your copy online here.
About the author
Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME (for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award) and A MEMORY OF VIOLETS. Her third novel THE GIRL FROM THE SAVOY was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail Canada bestseller and was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards. Hazel’s books have been translated into a number of foreign languages. In addition to THE COTTINGLEY SECRET, Hazel will also release LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (October 2017, co-written with Heather Webb). Hazel lives in Ireland with her husband and two children. She is represented by Michelle Brower of Aevitas Creative, New York. For more information, visit www.hazelgaynor.com
QUOTED: "I was interested in the history of WW2 evacuees and Operation Pied Piper, a mass evacuation campaign where children were sent to the countryside from Britain’s towns and cities most at risk of bombing raids, and while researching that I came across the phrase 'seavacuees' and was intrigued. Children being sent overseas was a less well-known evacuee story. But it was an account of an evacuee ship torpedoed in the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors, lost at sea for eight days, that sparked the idea for my story."
Author Q & A with Historical Fiction Author Hazel Gaynor
BY CINDY BURNETT, STAFF WRITER | JUNE 15, 2023
Cindy Burnett
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Hazel Gaynor's newest historical fiction novel, The Last Lifeboat, released this week.
Hazel Gaynor is one of my favorite historical fiction authors, and I am always thrilled when she releases a new book. Her latest novel, The Last Lifeboat, published earlier this week. Set in 1940, the book follows two women. Alice King is not brave or daring – she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher – to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas. With two lively children and a loving husband, Lily Nichol’s humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her husband gone, Lily is faced with an impossible keep her son and daughter close or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme.
When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other – one on land, the other at sea – will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.
Author Kristina McMorris raves: “Hazel Gaynor’s latest novel, inspired by a shocking wartime tragedy, captivated me from the very first page. Though propelled by a slew of twists and turns, at its core, The Last Lifeboat is a moving tale of love, hope, and fortitude in the darkest of times. A haunting, memorable read.”
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today, Globe and Mail and Irish Times bestselling historical novelist. Hazel’s work has been translated into 18 languages and is published in 25 territories to date. She lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.
Hazel answers some questions that I posed to her about The Last Lifeboat:
What inspired you to start writing The Last Lifeboat?
I was interested in the history of WW2 evacuees and Operation Pied Piper, a mass evacuation campaign where children were sent to the countryside from Britain’s towns and cities most at risk of bombing raids, and while researching that I came across the phrase "seavacuees" and was intrigued. Children being sent overseas was a less well-known evacuee story. But it was an account of an evacuee ship torpedoed in the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors, lost at sea for eight days, that sparked the idea for my story. I imagined two women connected by this tragedy: one in a lifeboat with other survivors, the other in London, desperately awaiting news of her children. Inspired by true events, The Last Lifeboat is a very different story of WW2, a story of human courage and endurance, and I’m so excited for readers to turn the first page!
What do you hope your readers take away from your book?
As with all my books, I hope readers will be entertained and moved, and that they will finish the book feeling emotionally connected with my characters. I also hope they might discover a part of history they weren’t aware of before reading the book, but should never feel that they’ve attended a history lesson! I believe every book has a slightly different message for every reader; that everyone will find within it whatever they were meant to find. I love that.
Do you have any say in what your book cover looks like?
I love my cover so much and have had so many readers message me to say they love it, too! The designer, Colleen Reinhart, and the art department at Berkley did such an amazing job. I was invited to share covers and images I loved, and to express my hopes and dreams and key words I hoped the cover would convey. This was the first concept I was shown and with only a few minor tweaks, the final cover was agreed. I especially love the fact that the photographer captured images of his granddaughter in various poses to represent the children in the lifeboat.
What is the most difficult part about writing for you?
When writing anything based on true events, I am always mindful of the fact that it really happened, and that ordinary people like you and me lived through those moments, even if my characters are fictional. Remembering that, and imagining myself facing the same situation and decisions, helps to create tension and emotion. The sense of confinement and claustrophobia in the lifeboat was definitely a challenge to capture on the page. To depict the sense of fear and helplessness, and to write every scene in the same confined setting while maintaining a sense of tension, wasn’t easy. Reading survivor accounts was incredibly helpful.
Are you working on anything at the present that you would like to share with me?
Yes! And I am very excited! I can't say too much yet, but I can share that it takes place during the dust bowl era of the 1930s and will be my first novel set entirely in the USA. Driven by an intriguing female character and her estranged niece, the story explores themes of self-discovery, finding hope within adversity, and how far we will go to protect those we love. It was pitched to my editor as “a story you already know; a woman you don't,” and I cannot wait to share more detail in the coming months!
What are you reading now and what have you read recently that you loved?
At the moment I am reading an advance copy of the powerful Weyward by Emilia Hart, and I recently read R.F. Kuang’s Yellowface, which I absolutely loved. It is highly original, clever, thought-provoking, and will have writers pressing it into each other’s hands!
Hazel Gaynor | Two Women’s Lives Become Fatefully Entwined
JUNE 14, 2023
1–What is the title of your latest release?
THE LAST LIFEBOAT
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Two women’s lives become fatefully entwined when an evacuee ship carrying British children to Canada during WW2 is torpedoed in the Atlantic. Alice King finds herself in a lifeboat with other survivors while, in London, Lily Nicholls desperately awaits news of her children. Inspired by true events, The Last Lifeboat is a very different story of WW2, a story of human courage and endurance, and I’m so excited for readers to turn the first page!
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
History decided the setting when I read about an evacuee ship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the middle of the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors was lost at sea for eight days. Much of my story is set in a lifeboat in the Atlantic.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. I would love to spend time with both Alice and Lily. They are both strong intriguing women, with fascinating stories to tell.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Alice: Uncertain, brave, humble.
Lily: Resilient, loving, determined.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I was already familiar with Operation Pied Piper, a mass evacuation campaign at the start of WW2 where children were sent to the countryside from Britain’s towns and cities, but I didn’t know about the “seavacuees”. Children being sent to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Jamaica was a very different evacuee story. I was keen to explore how parents made the impossible decision to send their children so far away, and what happened to those evacuated children.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I am a terrible first drafter and constantly go back to edit early pages when I should be getting on with writing the rest of the book. Somehow, it always gets done!
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
White bread, toasted, with real Irish butter (Hi, Kerrygold!) It’s such a simple pleasure, but it’s soooo good!
9–Describe your writing space/office!
A mess! I tidy up and de-clutter after each book is delivered, but most of the time I am surrounded by research books, notebooks, pages of notes, coffee cups and to do lists. I’m so lucky to have my own writing space. It really deserves to be treated better!
10–Who is an author you admire?
I honestly admire anyone who can create something from a blank page and keep chipping away until they have a book written.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
The Girl Who Came Home (my debut novel about Titanic) was my first published novel and changed my working and family life in a wonderful way. That was the moment my determination to be a published writer became reality. Being a writer is my second career, and ten years on from publishing my first book, I am still so happy that this is my crazy wonderful job!
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
“The call” was actually an email from my agent, with the subject title “Offer!” An editor at HarperCollins wanted to publish The Girl Who Came Home. What followed was a crazy few weeks which culminated in a very exciting auction for my first two books, The Girl Who Came Home (which I’d initially self-published) and A Memory of Violets (a full manuscript which existed only on my laptop at the time). There were so many years of rejection and disappointment on the way to that ‘Yes’ and it meant the absolute world to me. I had a glass of champagne and sobbed!
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical fiction – surprise! – and book club fiction, but a great book will grab me whatever the genre. My good friend, Catherine Ryan Howard, writes brilliant thrillers so I’ve become a fan, even though they terrify me!
14–What’s your favorite movie?
I absolutely love Jojo Rabbit. It’s such a perfect balance of humor, heartbreak, and hope. Amazing storytelling and acting.
15–What is your favorite season?
Fall (or autumn as I call it). There’s something so beautiful about the colors and the crisp air. It feels invigorating to me and always inspires me to start something new.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
With my family and fish and chips by the sea.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I absolutely loved the Paramount+ Yellowstone origin story, 1883. It stole my heart and broke my heart, and I am still thinking about it months after watching it.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Thai or Mexican. Give me all the spice!
19–What do you do when you have free time?
I like to bake as a way of relaxing, and then eat my baking as a way of relaxing even more! I also love a good walk by the sea to blow away the cobwebs. And, of course, I read.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I am SO excited about my next novel! I can’t say too much yet, but I can share that it takes place during the dust bowl era of the 1930s and will be my first novel set entirely in the USA. Driven by an intriguing female character and her estranged niece, the story explores themes of self-discovery, finding hope within adversity, and how far we will go to protect those we love. It was pitched to my editor as “a story you already know; a woman you don’t”, and I cannot wait to share more detail in the coming months!
THE LAST LIFEBOAT by Hazel Gaynor
The Last Lifeboat
Inspired by a remarkable true story, a young teacher evacuates children to safety across perilous waters, in a moving and triumphant new novel from New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor.
1940, Kent: Alice King is not brave or daring—she’s happiest finding adventure through the safe pages of books. But times of war demand courage, and as the threat of German invasion looms, a plane crash near her home awakens a strength in Alice she’d long forgotten. Determined to do her part, she finds a role perfectly suited to her experience as a schoolteacher—to help evacuate Britain’s children overseas.
1940, London: Lily Nichols once dreamed of using her mathematical talents for more than tabulating the cost of groceries, but life, and love, charted her a different course. With two lively children and a loving husband, Lily’s humble home is her world, until war tears everything asunder. With her husband gone and bombs raining down, Lily is faced with an impossible choice: keep her son and daughter close, knowing she may not be able to protect them, or enroll them in a risky evacuation scheme, where safety awaits so very far away.
When a Nazi U-boat torpedoes the S. S. Carlisle carrying a ship of children to Canada, a single lifeboat is left adrift in the storm-tossed Atlantic. Alice and Lily, strangers to each other—one on land, the other at sea—will quickly become one another’s very best hope as their lives are fatefully entwined.
Women’s Fiction Historical [Berkley, On Sale: June 13, 2023, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593440315 / eISBN: 9780593440322]
Buy THE LAST LIFEBOAT: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Love’s Sweet Arrow | Walmart.com | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times and international bestselling author. Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.
QUOTED: "I hope readers will be immersed in the story and become emotionally connected with my characters. I also hope they might discover a part of history they weren’t aware of before reading the book but should never feel that they’ve attended a history lesson. I believe every book has a different message for every reader; that everyone will find within the pages whatever they were meant to find."
Hazel Gaynor: On Fictionalizing Lesser Known Historical Stories
Author Hazel Gaynor discusses what lesser-known historical fact inspired her latest novel, The Last Lifeboat, and what made this novel especially challenging to write.
ROBERT LEE BREWERJUN 13, 2023
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, Irish Times, and international bestselling author. Her most recent historical novel, set in China during WWII—published in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand as The Bird in the Bamboo Cage and in the USA and Canada as When We Were Young & Brave—was an Irish Times bestseller, a national bestseller in the USA, and was short-listed for the 2020 Irish Book Awards.
Follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Hazel Gaynor
Hazel Gaynor
Fran Veale
In this post, Hazel discusses what lesser-known historical fact inspired her latest novel and what made it especially challenging to write.
Name: Hazel Gaynor
Literary agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary Management
Book title: The Last Lifeboat
Publisher: Berkley/PRH
Release date: June13, 2023
Genre/category: Historical Fiction
Previous titles: The Girl Who Came Home, A Memory of Violets, The Girl from The Savoy The Cottingley Secret, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, When We Were Young & Brave. And, with Heather Webb, Last Christmas In Paris, Meet Me in Monaco, Three Words For Goodbye.
Elevator pitch for the book: Two women’s lives become fatefully entwined when an evacuee ship carrying British children to Canada during WW2 is torpedoed in the Atlantic. Alice King finds herself adrift in a lifeboat with other survivors while, in London, Lily Nicholls desperately awaits news of her children. Told over eight unimaginable days, and inspired by true events
The Last Life Boat | Hazel Gaynor
Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
What prompted you to write this book?
While I was researching the history of WW2 evacuees and Operation Pied Piper—a mass evacuation campaign where Britain’s children were sent to the countryside from towns and cities most at risk of bombing raids—I came across the phrase ‘seavacuees’ and an account of an evacuee ship torpedoed in the Atlantic. Children being sent overseas was a less well-known evacuee story, but it was the remarkable account of a lifeboat of survivors, lost at sea for eight days, that sparked the idea for my story.
I imagined two women connected by the tragedy: one in a lifeboat with other survivors, the other in London, desperately awaiting news of her children. I wanted to tell a different story of the war, of ordinary women faced with extraordinary circumstances, of courage and survival and second chances.
I also wanted to write a story that asks the reader to consider what they would do if faced with the agonizing choices my characters confront. Regardless of how familiar a reader is with WW2 or that period of history, I’m sure we can all relate to the instinct to protect a child, but how far would we go to do that, and at what cost? It is the ‘what if’ and the consequence of choice that sits at the heart of The Last Lifeboat.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I first discovered the account of the seavacuees in late 2019 and I finished editing The Last Lifeboat in January this year, so it has been a long journey from concept to finished novel. I also moved publishers with this book.
The idea never really changed, but the pacing and the beats of tension shifted and moved through the editing process as we found the shape of the story. I find it fascinating how much of writing is about understanding when to reveal pivotal events in the narrative and when to hold back. It makes a huge difference.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
My greatest surprise is always how difficult it is to find the right title for a book. There were a lot of discussions with my editors in the USA and the UK as we tried to find a title that would work for both territories. I tend to overcomplicate things and I’m learning (10 books in!) that it is usually the most obvious title that works in the end.
The other surprise was a shift in direction with my cover. I’d described my dream cover as cinematic as I really wanted to evoke the sense of isolation in the lifeboat. The art team at Berkley absolutely nailed it and the very first cover I was shown, designed by the brilliant Colleen Reinhart, is the one we used. That hardly ever happens!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
When writing anything based on true events, I’m always mindful of the fact that ordinary people like you and me lived through those moments, even if my characters are fictional. This was a particularly powerful and emotional story to write and although The Last Lifeboat is set over a much narrower timeframe than my previous books (essentially set over eight days, rather than several years), in many ways it was much harder to write.
The sense of confinement and claustrophobia In the lifeboat was particularly challenging to capture on the page. To depict the sense of fear and helplessness, and to write every scene in the same confined setting while maintaining a sense of tension, wasn’t easy. Reading survivor accounts was incredibly helpful and my editors really pushed me to get those scenes right.
On Fictionalizing Lesser Known Historical Stories | Hazel Gaynor
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
As with all my books, I hope readers will be immersed in the story and become emotionally connected with my characters. I also hope they might discover a part of history they weren’t aware of before reading the book but should never feel that they’ve attended a history lesson. I believe every book has a different message for every reader; that everyone will find within the pages whatever they were meant to find.
I’ve written 10 novels over the last 10 years, but I’m especially proud of The Last Lifeboat and the voice if gives to the young ‘seavacuees’ and an episode of the war that has been overlooked by more familiar narratives of WW2 fiction in recent years. I’ve always been drawn to epic stories of survival, especially those set at sea, and I’m so excited to share The Last Lifeboat with readers.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Start writing, and finish what you start! It sounds obvious, but this is honestly the only way to find out if you really want to write, if you’re prepared to make sacrifices to find time to write, and if you have a story you want to tell.
Give yourself permission to write a messy first draft and don’t give up when it starts to feel too difficult. Every writer, no matter how experienced, goes through a period of doubt. Remind yourself that a first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be written. Tell yourself the story first, then you can find out what you really want to say.
QUOTED: "Gaynor ... creates a lovely meditation on the power of belief and hope."
Gaynor, Hazel THE COTTINGLEY SECRET Morrow/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $15.99 8, 1 ISBN: 978-0-06-249984-4
A woman inherits a bookstore and discovers her family's connection to a famous set of photographs.In 1917, while the world was in the midst of a war, cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright staged photographs to make it appear that Frances was surrounded by fairies. Although they never intended for the faked photographs to be seen by anyone outside their family, the photos became famous enough that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publicly claimed they were real. With so much attention directed toward them, Elsie and Frances promised to keep the truth a secret. One hundred years later, in the present day, Olivia Kavanagh inherits her grandfather's bookshop in Ireland. But Olivia's grandfather didn't just leave her the bookshop--he also left a manuscript written by Frances, and it details exactly how (and more importantly, why) she and Elsie staged their photographs and maintained their hoax for so many years. Olivia has her own troubles to deal with--extracting herself from an unhappy engagement, caring for her ill grandmother, and facing a diagnosis of infertility--but she soon discovers that, as her grandfather told her, stories choose "the right readers at the right time." Just as Frances realized that people needed to believe in fairies to find hope during WWI, Olivia finds that believing in a little bit of magic helps her reconnect with the woman she used to be. The insight into the true story of the Cottingley fairies is interesting, and it's easy to understand why two girls might play along with an innocent trick that became a worldwide sensation. Olivia's struggles are never quite as compelling, and readers may find themselves eager to slip back into the world of the fairies. Gaynor (The Girl from the Savoy, 2016, etc.) creates a lovely meditation on the power of belief and hope.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Gaynor, Hazel: THE COTTINGLEY SECRET." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A493329240/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2663e388. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "beautifully written and expertly researched."
The Cottingley Secret.
By Hazel Gaynor.
Aug. 2017.41 Bp. Morrow, paper, $15.99 (9780062499844).
Nine-year-old Frances Griffith believes she has seen fairies in the woods behind her family's home. When the adults don't believe her, Frances and her cousin Elsie take a set of fake photographs, a series of self-portraits including Elsie's carefully constructed paper fairies. When famous writer and avowed theosophist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sees the photographs, he is convinced they are authentic. As Frances and Elsie pledge to keep the true nature of the photos to themselves, they and their photographs become a national sensation. In present-day Ireland, Olivia Kavanaugh discovers a manuscript in her late grandfather's bookshop that tells the story of the girls and their famous pictures. At a crossroads in her own life, Olivia becomes absorbed in the mystery and sets out on a journey to discover the truth while learning something about herself along the way. Gaynor (The Girl from the Savoy, 2016) once again takes readers deep into the lives of her characters, making history come alive. Beautifully written and expertly researched, Gaynor's latest is a look at one of history's most intriguing mysteries and an important reminder of the power of belief. --Carol Gladstein
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
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Gladstein, Carol. "The Cottingley Secret." Booklist, vol. 113, no. 21, 1 July 2017, p. 31. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A499862748/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=52bd3c4b. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "Gaynor's writing is capable, though the story is slight."
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter
Hazel Gaynor. Morrow, $16.99 trade paper (416p) ISBN 978-0-06-269862-9
Lighthouse keeping, courage, and a complicated family history connect two women living a century apart in this wispy tale from bestseller Gaynor (The Girl Who Came Home). In the 19th century, modest, dutiful Grace Darling assists her father in rescuing the survivors of a shipwreck. Among them is a young mother, Sarah Dawson, who lost both children to the sea. Grace's display of exceptional bravery in venturing out in the middle of a raging storm catapults her into sudden and unwanted fame. In the 1900s, Sarah's descendant, the rebellious Matilda Emmerson--19, pregnant, and unwed--is sent from Ireland to Rhode Island to live with lighthouse keeper Harriet Flaherty, her distant, eccentric relative. While in Rhode Island, Matilda researches her family history, uncovering both Grace's tragic, forgotten love story and startling revelations about her own parentage. Grace and Matilda's lives parallel each other as both exhibit quiet bravery, fall in love with artists, and develop intense connections with the lighthouses they tend. Gaynor's writing is capable, though the story is slight and the link between centuries feels tenuous at times. The novel will appeal to fans of low-key women's fiction, but readers looking for drama won't find it here. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management. (Oct.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter." Publishers Weekly, vol. 265, no. 35, 27 Aug. 2018, p. 88. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A553116241/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=83d68e42. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter. By Hazel Gaynor. Oct. 2018.41 Bp. Morrow, paper, $16.99 (9780062698629); e-book (9780062698636).
Connected by blood and their love of the sea, four brave women discover themselves through tragedy and redemption in Gaynor's (The Cottingley Secret, 2017) historical novel based on true events. In 1838, Grace Darling lives a quiet life on the Farne Islands of Northumberland, England, lighting the lamps at Longstone Lighthouse alongside her father. Watching the seas after a raging storm, Grace spots the survivors of a shipwreck, and her life is changed forever. Out at sea, Sarah Dawson clings to her children on a rock after the S.S. Forfarshire disastrously sinks. It seems all hope is lost until Grace and her father rescue the few survivors back to Longstone. One hundred years later, Matilda Emmerson is onboard a ship to America, sent away from Ireland to keep her scandalous pregnancy a secret. She finds herself at Rose Island Lighthouse with Harriet Flaherty, the assistant lighthouse keeper with a hidden past. When Matilda uncovers a secret about her birth, the four women are forever linked to one another, and the lighthouses that saved them.--Melissa Norstedt
YA: YAs will enjoy the distinct viewpoints of these four historical female characters as they overcome obstacles of love and family that are still relatable today. MN.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
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Norstedt, Melissa. "The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 3, 1 Oct. 2018, p. 29. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A557838015/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b0e96c04. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "a scrumptious concoction served up with delectable descriptions and heaps of emotion."
Meet Me in Monaco
Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. Morrow, $26.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-291354-8
With glamour, perfume, and romance, Gaynor and Webb's second collaborative novel (after Last Christmas in Paris) is a scrumptious concoction served up with delectable descriptions and heaps of emotion. James Henderson, scrabbling by as a tabloid photographer in 1955 London, is 35, divorced, and uncertain in his parenting skills. Visiting Cannes, he ignominiously fails to snap a red carpet photo of Grace Kelly; while chasing down the elusive star, he follows her into the shop of 33-year-old Sophie Duval, a second-generation parfumeur, whose livelihood is on the brink. Grace gains sanctuary, Sophie gains an influential client, and Jim negotiates access to a photo op between Grace and Prince Rainier. His irate editor fires him anyway, freeing Jim to pursue the photos that interest him--and reconnect with the "intriguing" Frenchwoman who thwarted him. Sophie, meanwhile, must navigate the demands of her widowed, alcoholic mother and businessman boyfriend as she tries to parlay Grace's patronage into new life for her business. Jim's occasional reappearances warm Sophie's heart but distract her from her goals. He is in love, yet constantly tugged homeward by ties to family and friends. Sweet, then bitter, then sweet again, the love story is woven through with Grace's fairy-rale romance with Rainier and its devastating ending, snatching redemption from tragedy in the best Hollywood style. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management. (July)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"Meet Me in Monaco." Publishers Weekly, vol. 266, no. 18, 6 May 2019, pp. 35+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585671586/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d59fbd9c. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "a deeply satisfying tale of love and friendship, and a reminder of the power of second chances."
Meet Me in Monaco.
By Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.
July 2019.384p. Morrow, paper, $16.99 (9780062885364).
Gaynor and Webb's second collaboration (Last Christmas in Paris, 2017) is set among the glitz and glamour of the Cannes Film Festival. When Grace Kelly enters Sophie Duval's family perfume shop looking for a place to hide from a persistent American photographer, Sophie gives Grace shelter and sparks an unexpected life-long friendship between the two women. While James doesn't get the photograph he wants that day, he never forgets his brief encounter with Sophie. But with a young daughter at home and a career to pursue, James can't afford to be distracted by a charming French woman. When James later accepts an assignment to travel from New York to Monaco aboard the SS Constitution with the Kelly wedding party, he dreams only of seeing Sophie again. Gaynor and Webb make history come alive with a beautifully crafted and expertly paced story of one of history's most celebrated stars. Their artful blend of history and imagination is a deeply satisfying tale of love and friendship, and a reminder of the power of second chances to determine our fate.--Carol Gladstein
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Source Citation
Source Citation
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Gladstein, Carol. "Meet Me in Monaco." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 19-20, 1 June 2019, p. 48. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593431517/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b79e45d2. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "charming historical fiction."
Three Words for Goodbye. By Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. July 2021. 384p. Morrow, paper, $16.99 (9780062965240); e-book, $11.99 (9780062965257).
Clara and Madeleine are summoned to their ailing grandmother's estate in winter 1937 to hear a startling request: she wants the sisters to take a trip to Europe together. Coming just before Clara's wedding to a successful if unimaginative businessman, and with the two sisters prone to squabbling at the slightest provocation, the trip seems fraught with challenges from the outset. But Madeleine is eager to jump-start her career as a journalist by seeking out stories the Continent might hold as it lurches toward war, and Claras fiance has already agreed to the trip, so they grant their grandmother's request. She gives them keepsakes from her friend, the world traveler and journalist Nellie Bly, and three letters to deliver as they journey to Paris, Venice, and Austria, with their return set aboard the Hindenburg. As the sisters learn to embrace the unexpected, from a hot-air-balloon ride to the men they meet on their travels, they grapple with their own futures as they learn more about their grandmother's past. Charming historical fiction.--Bridget Thoreson
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 American Library Association
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Thoreson, Bridget. "Three Words for Goodbye." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 18, 15 May 2021, pp. 37+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A663198996/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9113dc56. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "will keep readers riveted and avidly turning pages."
The Last Lifeboat. By Hazel Gaynor. June 2023.384p. Berkley, paper, $17 (9780593440315); e-book (9780593440322).
Based on the true story of the 1940 Nazi torpedoing of a ship carrying British children to Canada, Gaynor tells an emotionally compelling tale of two women whose choices in the early war years change their lives. When the British government offers to evacuate 20,000 children, Lily Nelson makes the agonizing decision to send Georgina and Arthur from Blitz-ravaged London to Canada. Alice, a former teacher in rural Kent, signs on to accompany the children on their ocean voyage. When their ship is torpedoed, Alice is in the last lifeboat with 6 boys--including Arthur--and 33 men. As they drift in the ocean, they must fight to survive the storms and hunger. After Lily learns of her daughter's survival and Arthur's death, grief and guilt propel her to demand answers from the program officials. The vivid and accurately portrayed war details give this powerful story a very different perspective on WWII, one that will keep readers riveted and avidly turning pages. Suggest Gaynor's novel to patrons who love strong female characters, authentically nuanced historical fiction, and emotionally compelling stories. --Merle Jacob
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Jacob, Merle. "The Last Lifeboat." Booklist, vol. 119, no. 17, 1 May 2023, p. 22. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A748959169/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=434e81fb. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.
QUOTED: "a well-written novel about taking chances and facing loss."
Gaynor, Hazel. The Last Lifeboat. Berkley. Jun. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593440315. pap. $17. F
Gaynor's latest historical (after When We Were Young & Brave) is a well-written novel about taking chances and facing loss and tear during a time of uncertainty. It's based on a real organization, the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB), created during World War II to evacuate children out of England to other countries, including Canada and Australia. Thinking of the future of her children, Lily Nicholls, a widowed London mother, must make the tough decision to send them off with CORB. Alice King is one of the volunteers hired by CORB to escort children on these dangerous voyages, and on her first voyage she is put in charge of Lily's children. During their Atlantic passage, the ship is torpedoed, forcing passengers into lifeboats, where their hopes of survival dwindle the longer they go without rescue. VERDICT Gaynor's immersive novel pairs well with Jessica Mann's nonfiction book Out of Harm's Way: The Wartime Evacuation of Children from Britain, in which firsthand accounts and extensive research relate the experiences of children who were removed from their families and taken to foreign countries. Similarly, Julia Kelly's novel The Lost English Girl takes place at the very beginning of the war when children were being evacuated to the countryside.--Victoria Kollar
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Kollar, Victoria. "The Last Lifeboat." Library Journal, vol. 148, no. 6, June 2023, pp. 107+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A752767785/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f10a11f7. Accessed 7 Apr. 2024.