Hazel's hat-trick
Hot on the success of her debut 'The Girl Who Came Home', which achieved best-seller status in all of the key lists in the US, including the New York Times and USA Today, 'A Memory of Violets' will be on the shelves in the US in February, and in Ireland and the UK in March. The first book was based on the sinking of the Titanic, the second on flower sellers in London
And she has only recently signed a contract for a third novel, again a period tale, which is about a young chambermaid working in the Savoy Hotel in the 'Roaring Twenties' in London who becomes a very successful stage star.
Just back from a meeting with her publishers in New York, Hazel is still somewhat bemused with her progress as a writer, but reckons she has a dream career now because she can work full-time from her home and still be with her family every day when they come home from school.
"The latest book probably came from my love of that period, and of theatre, the 'flapper girls' and all that," she says. "And with the centenary of the Great War, there have been a lot of books published around that and afterwards, and I have wanted to write a story that touches on that, which isn't about the soldiers or the war but which goes into the impact that it had on people."
Hazel's books to date have featured strong women characters in iconic events and times, and her current work is similar, drawing on the period in which 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Downton Abbey' are set. "I was interested in having a character who finds herself thrown into that theatre profession against the background of those times. I thought it would be an interesting dynamic to have a chambermaid become a star, simply because where she worked gave her access to that and enabled her to lift herself out of a lowly role."
Because the new deal is with the same publisher, Hazel has the same editor and publishing team, and this time around it's all quite different from when she first began working with HarperCollins. "I know them, and they know me. But this time, because I went to New York to meet them, we have got to know each other directly. Being able to sit down and have a coffee with them and talk things over face to face, it's completely different to using Skype or phone calls. And for me it was so important to have that moment of 'Oh Gosh, I'm in HarperCollins's office in New York'. It made all this so much more real."
Her experience so far with her publisher has been really good, with every detail of her books' publication being thought through, from the cover picture to the typeface used, and nothing decided without being cleared with herself. "This has been my only experience with publishers, but I'm told it doesn't always work out this way for authors, so I'm really happy with the team. Being confident with them gives me confidence in the next book."
Hazel originally went the self-publishing route with a Kindle version of 'The Girl Who Came Home', and when this was picked up by a New York based agent her whole future landscape as a writer changed. Sales of the HarperCollins version have been 'fantastic' in the US, and she feels have set a very good basis from which she can grow as a writer.
"In doing 'A Memory of Violets' I felt I was a stronger writer, and I can already feel with this third book that I'm pushing myself again, and that is how it should be."
This article was first published in The Kildare Nationalist.
