It’s been a long time between books, I know. I’m sorry! Let me tell you why.
Do a creative practice PhD, I decided a few years back. Write 2 novellas for it, I figured. Books I’d like to write, PhD or not. The North Wind, the Dungirri Christmas novella that I published two years ago, was the first one. The second novella however… it refused to be a novella. Obstinately, stubbornly, refused to be a novella. Totally stressful for me, because although I love the story, love the characters, it’s not usual to submit both a novella and a full-length novel for a creative practice PhD. It looked for a long while as if I’d have to choose between the novel or the PhD. And the stress stole my writing mojo and the words just wouldn’t flow. And all the time I was stressing about it, I knew all my lovely faithful readers were waiting (im)patiently for a new book from me. However, after much discussion with my university, it’s all okay. I can submit the novel and the novella for the PhD (along with an academic exegesis). And my writing mojo is coming back.
So, I am delighted to let you all know that there will (finally!) be a new book from me this February! It’s a little different from my other books, although there’s romance, crime, suspense, and the usual turn-the-page tension. But I’m exploring my love of places outside Australia – and in this book, it’s the West Riding of Yorkshire. And I’m letting my inner historian loose: it’s set in 1816.
The Clothier’s Daughter
In the unusually wet summer of 1816, Emma Braithwaite struggles to keep her family’s traditional wool cloth manufacturing company afloat. Her father has died, her brother is missing, and the new cotton factories are spreading, rendering the fine worsted fabrics the Braithwaites have made for generations, expensive and unfashionable. Being a woman in a man’s world of trade is challenging enough, but when her warehouse catches fire it brings her only a step away from financial ruin and debtor’s prison.
After eight years of war, Major Adam Caldwell is returning for the first time to his family home, Rengarth Castle, when he stops to assist at a warehouse fire … and comes face-to-face with the woman he once loved and lost. Despite all his efforts to forget her, in truth she’s never been far from his thoughts. He was unworthy of her then, and even more so now.
But as the threats against Emma escalate, they discover that someone wants control of Emma’s family company and is prepared to murder anyone in the way of getting it – including Emma.
The Clothier’s Daughter will be available in ebook, paperback, hardcover and large print, from all the main online sellers, and also directly from my website.
I’ll post again soon with information about exact release date, pre-orders, links, and a pre-release chance to win the book!
If you love Australian settings and you’re wondering whether there will be more Dungirri or Goodabri books, the answer is… probably. Those small towns have had a lot of death and grief, and I felt I needed a break from such intense contemporary stories. Murder is hard to write when the setting and characters, although fictional, are close to home and friends.
Writing The Clothier’s Daughter gave me a chance to stretch my writing wings and indulge in my love of history, and of the Yorkshire countryside. But the people of Dungirri and Goodabri are still active in my imagination, and there are more stories to tell. However, I’m not sure at this stage when I’ll write them. I have the beginnings of several books – contemporary and historical – and once the PhD is submitted and I’ve had some reader response to the new book, I’ll decide which one to write next.
So many books to write, and only 24 hours a day… but I do hope that you won’t have to wait another two years before the next one!
