So last Friday night, this totally astonishing, absolutely wonderful thing happened: in a lovely ceremony at the State Library, Bold Ben Hall was announced as the winner of the Young People’s History Prize in the 2025 NSW History Awards!
I feel so delighted, honoured, grateful and absolutely amazed…still pinching myself!
Thank you so much to the wonderful judges, to the State Library, to my fantastic publisher Walker Books Australia, my lovely agent Margaret Connolly, and my darling family and friends who came to celebrate this exciting evening with me!
I’m delighted to say that I was interviewed by fellow writer Brenton Cullen on his blog, about Bold Ben Hall, research, writing about the past, and quite a few other things. Really enjoyed the interview, hope you do so too!
Here’s a short extract:
1. Congratulations on your latest fantastic historical novel Bold Ben Hall! What prompted you to write this book?
SM: Thank you, Brenton! Ever since I was a kid I have always been fascinated by the bushranger era, and the larger than life characters who inhabited it, especially those with an interesting backstory, like Ned Kelly (who features in two of my earlier novels, The Hunt for Ned Kelly and Ned Kelly’s Secret) and Ben Hall.
Both men were not ‘common criminals’ but complex figures with both ‘the dark and the bright’ in them (to quote something Ned Kelly once said). And it struck me that I could tell the story of Ben Hall in a way that would highlight that, through the differing viewpoints of two young people of his time.
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 was delighted this week to get my author copies of my new middle-grade novel, Bold Ben Hall, which comes out with Walker Books on March 1. Doesn’t it look fabulous! Can’t wait till it’s out in the hands of readers…
Another wonderful review of The Key to Rome has just been published, this time on the Read Plus blog. Here’s a short extract:
Highly recommended.
Sophie Masson is a master at weaving historical facts into captivating stories, and this book is no exception….The exciting plot moves along well, and readers are drawn into the dangerous game Livia is playing when she tries to figure out what the key means and why her uncle and his enemies will do anything to get or destroy it. But will they uncover the truth in time to stay alive? Detailed background notes and a glossary at the back of the book are very helpful additions for young readers.
Today my new middle-grade historical mystery novel, The Key to Rome, is officially published by Eagle Books and is available in all good bookshops around Australia. It’s a novel that’s had a long gestation, since the day quite a few years ago when I spotted an ancient Roman key ring (a key designed to be worn as a ring) in an antique shop near the British Museum, and on an impulse, went in and bought it. It immediately inspired a train of thought about a story set in the Ancient Roman province of Britannia, and in time that turned into the book that is published today. And it’s just wonderful to see it out there at last!
The gorgeous cover illustrations, map and chapter decorations are by Lorena Carrington, and elegant design by Authors’ Elves.
There’s a fabulous little trailer for The Key to Rome, my forthcoming middle-grade historical mystery novel, now up on the Christmas Press You Tube channel. The book’s coming out in May and I’m really looking forward to its release. It’s been many years in the making, ever since I found a Roman key-ring in a London antique shop. I’ve written a bit about it here but will write a bit more about it later. But today, do enjoy the trailer!
Just seen the first review of Sydney Under Attack, and it’s great! It’s by Ashleigh Meikle on the Book Muse blog. Here’s a short extract:
2022 marks the 80th anniversary of these attacks – which makes novels like this poignant and important. They remind us that everyone was touched by the war in some way – whether on the home front, on the battle fields, or through knowing someone affected by events far from where they lived, such as Mrs Stein being unable to help her family escape persecution in Europe. Sophie Masson not only touches on how Nick and his family are affected, but how Jewish people are affected, how people who have family stuck in other theatres of war were affected, and how assumptions about someone based on appearance can change when you get to know the person and understand them, and find out that they’re just a normal person, not a spy at all.
Feathers of the Firebird 