Please welcome the fabulous Zana Bell to Lovecats today. Zana is here to talk about her latest release, Close To The Wind ....
Tell us about your latest release Close to the Wind
It's an 1860s
swashbuckling romantic adventure - a sort of Georgette Heyer meets Romancing the Stone where the heroine,
Georgiana, must race across the world to save her brother on the NZ goldfields
from an unknown assassin. To do so, she disguises herself as a boy and escapes
England on board the ship of the dashing
Captain Harry Trent - a man on his own
secret life-or-death mission. It's all masquerades, lies and deception - and
that's just on the heroine's part!
You're known for your contemporary romances, have you always had a
interest in writing historicals?
Actually, it's
a return to my first love. My first book was a YA time-travel back to the 1860s
and a few years ago Mira published my historical, Forbidden Frontier, based on the life and
times of Charlotte Badger - Australia's real-life convict and pirate and NZ's
first woman immigrant.
I love the
histories of NZ and Australia and I think the 1860s gold rushes were
particularly heady times. Not only did they attract the most colourful, daring
men from around the world, ready to risk all for a crazy dream and adventure,
they also gave women unique opportunities to escape the crippling class system
of Victorian England. In Close to the
Wind I was trying to capture some of the energy, the exuberance of those
times.
What kind of stories can your readers expect in the
future?
I have another NZ 1860s historical coming out next
year - where Lady Guinevere Stanhope arrives alone in Hokitika armed with little
more than her passion for photography and a driving determination to save her
family home. She is plunged into adventures which include crossing paths with
Finn, an Irish doctor turned miner who has his own goals - none of which
included young women from the English aristrocracy.
1860's Hokitika is where the NZ Man Booker prize-winner The Luminaries is set! (Yay, Eleanur Catton)
My book is, however, a little different. It's shorter for a start :)
When is your latest book available?
It's on sale on 11 November in Australia
and NZ
To help celebrate the release of Close To The Wind, Zana is giving away a copy to one lucky commenter!
To learn more about Zana and her books, visit her website http://www.zanabell.com/
Hi Zana
ReplyDeleteOh I do like the sound of this book and real adventure I must watch for the release date I look forward to reading this one.
Have Fun
Helen
Welcome to Lovecats, Zana. I thoroughly enjoyed Forbidden Frontier and am looking forward to reading Close to the Wind. Your passion for history comes through loud and clear in your wonderful stories.
ReplyDeleteZana, welcome back to the LoveCats! It's been a while since you left us and became a Cat in the Wild, but once a LoveCat, always a LoveCat. :)
ReplyDeleteClose To The Wind sounds fascinating - I love Romancing The Stone and Georgette Heyer, plus it's set in a new-to-me town. Brilliant!
Hi Zana! It's great to see you here. This sounds like a great story.
ReplyDeleteHi Zana,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the LoveCats. It's great to hear what you've been up to. These historicals sound fabbo. Love the girl disguised as a boy on board the ship. Who could resist reading that?
Lovely to see you here, Zana. :-) Congratulations on your new release. Close to the Wind sounds fabulous. And I have to say...the cover is gorgeous too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteCLOSE TO THE WIND looks and sounds like such a great read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the lovely welcome back. It's wonderful to "see" all the lovecats again.
ReplyDeleteAway from home and iPad malfunctions! Wanted to say low lovely it is to see how many lovecats there and
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the LoveCats, Zana! It's gorgeous to see you! And gorgeous to see your latest book - sounds like a terrific tale! I have gold-field ancestors - in New Zealand (Australia, too) so I'll enjoy tucking into a story set there. Those ancestors of mine weren't wildly successful - shame that! ;)
ReplyDeleteHistoricals have always been my favorite and I think it's great that the author is trying another genre - sounds like something I would enjoy!
ReplyDeleteNice interview
ReplyDelete