I had a number of excellent book events in March: on March 12, a short talk at the State Library of NSW for the Society of Women Writers (NSW branch), where I focussed on my joint French and Australian influences, via my two most recent books, Bold Ben Hall and A Secret Garden in Paris; on March 13, two book events in Goulburn Library–a storytime event in the morning, around Satin and Cockadoodledoo, read to both children and their families and people from a local nursing home, and an event centred around my Sophie Beaumont adult novels, The Paris Cooking School and A Secret Garden in Paris, in the evening. On March 29, I did a book signing for Bold Ben Hall at Collins Booksellers in Armidale, and on March 30 I was at the fabulous Seasons of New England Expo, spruiking my books and chatting with readers and fellow attendees! Here are a few pics from the various events.
Yoohoo! It’s the publication day today of Bold Ben Hall, my middle-grade novel about the famous/infamous bushranger, as seen through the eyes of Lily Jordan and Sam Turner, two (fictional) young people of his time. Published by Walker Books Australia as the launch title in their new Our History series, it was an absolutely engrossing novel to write, and I hope readers will find it similarly engrossing!
In this novel, I wanted to present Ben Hall’s story in a way which reflects the very different perspectives through which people of the time saw him and his arch-enemy Sir Frederick Pottinger. But it also invites you, the reader today, to make up your own mind, like Lily and Sam try to—who’s the hero, who’s the villain, or do they each have a bit of both?
My main characters Lily, Sam and their families and friends are fictional, but several of the people who appear in this novel are real historical figures, and I have based their descriptions and doings on documents and sources of the time. These historical figures include not only Hall and Pottinger, of course, but also the members of Hall’s gang, Mickey Burke and the three Johnnies—Gilbert, Vane and O’Meally—as well as the landlords of the Canowindra Hotel, Billy and Rose Robinson, and French-born Forbes businessmen Auguste Nicolas and Joseph-Bernard Reymond. As well as doing a lot of research in books and online, I visited Canowindra, Carcoar, Eugowra and Escort Rock (where Frank Gardiner and his gang pulled off the famous gold raid) Bathurst, Forbes (including Ben Hall’s grave) and the surrounding countryside to get a feel for ‘Ben Hall country’, which proved to be both interesting and inspirational. I particularly want to acknowledge the kind help and useful information I received from staff at the Forbes Library and Forbes Visitor Centre, as well as the archivists of the Forbes Family History Group, which helped me to build an even fuller picture of Ben Hall and his times. Later, a visit to the fascinating Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba, Queensland, greatly helped in fleshing out the coaching background.
There’s going to be a lot of events coming up in March for me!
March 1: Paperback edition of Satin is released by MidnightSun Publishing.
March 5: Publication day of Bold Ben Hall (Walker Books)
March 8: Signing morning for Bold Ben Hall at Collins Booksellers, Armidale.
March 12: Talk at the State Library of NSW for The Society of Women Writers NSW–my talk, which is part of festivities around the 100th anniversary of the Society, will be around my French and Australian inspirations.
March 13: Two events at Goulburn Library: a morning Storytime event for kids, focussed around Satin and Cockadoodledoo; and an evening talk and Q and A for adults, centred on A Secret Garden in Paris.
I’m delighted to say that a brand new paperback edition of Satin, my picture book with the wonderful illustrator Lorena Carrington, will be out in bookshops on March 1.
Satin, which was first published in hardback by MidnightSun Publishing in 2023, was awarded a Notable Books listing by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 2024. And the paperback edition proudly features that badge of honour!
On Saturday 25th January, in Sydney, I’ll be one of several guest authors at a special French-Australian literary dinner as part of a worldwide francophone event called Nuits de la Lecture (Nights of Reading)which celebrates books and reading and conversations between writers and readers. The event features literary games, book giveaways, a fun Q and A, and more, plus of course a nice meal (in our case, galettes and crepes at Four Frogs Creperie, Randwick). Much looking forward to it!
What a lovely surprise to discover, the latest (December) issue of Australia’s bestselling magazine, the Australian Women’s Weekly, a truly fabulous review of A Secret Garden in Paris--I am so delighted!
Had a lovely time last Thursday signing copies of A Secret Garden in Paris in our fabulous local Armidale bookshops: Reader’s Companion (thank you, Michelle and Chelsea!) and Collins Booksellers(thank you, Georgina!) Here are a few pics from that day.
It’s time to celebrate–today, A Secret Garden in Paris, my new novel for adults under the name of Sophie Beaumont, is officially released! I am so thrilled that it’s out in the world now, and hopefully will soon land in the hands of many, many readers. So many of you wonderful readers took my previous novel, The Paris Cooking School, to their hearts, and I hope you will also love A Secret Garden in Paris. I am delighted that already there have been some wonderful advance reviews of the book, you can read them here.
Writing this novel took me on an extraordinary journey, as I followed my characters Emma, Charlotte and Arielle through the winding paths of their lives in Paris, against a background of that glorious green and flowery world that’s such an integral part of the charm of the city. Over the years I’ve visited most of the places my characters went to, but I discovered quite a few more in the process of researching and writing the novel, as well as some fascinating facts and anecdotes about Paris gardens, a few of which found their way into the book. (By the way, I’ll soon be publishing a couple of pages on this blog, about the locations in the book and also on my favourite flowers–watch this space!)
I’d like to acknowledge the many people who have helped make this book such a lovely reality: many thanks to my wonderful agent, Margaret Connolly, for her encouragement, suggestions and support; to all the fantastic Ultimo Press team, for their dedicated, thoughtful and inspired commitment to making this book the very best it could be; and to Cheryl Orsini for the gorgeous peony and fabulous map. Special thanks to my husband David, gardener extraordinaire, for advice on plants and the restoration of overgrown gardens, and to my Paris-based sister Gabrielle and brother-in-law Bruno whose intimate knowledge of the city’s gardens helped to greatly expand my repertoire. And to all my beautiful family in Australia, France and the UK, I am so very grateful for your loving support and encouragement, as always.
Here’s the second part of my interview with the wonderful Brenton–this one looks at the course of writing careers, at publishing, at rewriting etc. It really has been one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve ever had!
I had a fantastic wide-ranging conversation over Zoom yesterday, with the wonderful writer, blogger and interviewer Brenton Cullen, about all kinds of things to do with my writing, books and career, and it’s now up on Brenton’s You Tube channel. It was such an invigorating and enjoyable experience!
Feathers of the Firebird 