Thanks for inviting me onto your website. I was born in Melbourne, brought up in Sydney, and did my postgraduate studies in London. My fiction, for which I’ve received several awards, has been translated into French, and has also been published by Reader’s Digest Select Editions in both Asia and Europe.
Mostly I write historical fiction, but sometimes also contemporary fiction, and I’ve published six novels. My newest novel, The Painting, is set mainly in the period 1989 to 1990, but with some of the story going back to World War II and to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
In The Painting, Hungary’s war-torn history contrasts starkly with Australia’s bright new world of opportunity, as a young Hungarian woman confronts her family’s past in a quest for a stolen painting. Both mystery and love story, The Painting’s underlying themes include love and loss, doubt and distrust. And because hope is so important to us all, the reader will also find – threaded through the arc of the main character’s story – the twin themes of redemption and regeneration.
Although the paperback version of my latest book, The Painting, won’t be available in the US until mid-1922, the ebook, the audiobook, and the large print editions can already be purchased in North America.
For readers who would like to obtain the paperback edition of The Painting sooner, it can be ordered from the Book Depository, with free postage to anywhere in the world.
All my earlier books can be ordered from good bookstores anywhere.
My advice is to read prolifically. It is also to read like a writer, by which I mean to be conscious of what tricks the writer might be using, to be conscious of the novel’s structure, its language, the viewpoints. It is also important to remember that you might need many drafts – and many years – to get it right. And finally, don’t be put off by rejections.
I drink herbal tea whenever I feel like it during the day, and usually either peppermint or fennel, but mid-afternoon I always have a cup of my favourite black tea, Earl Grey.
My website is here: https://www.alisonbooth.net/
My social media contacts are here:
Facebook: @AlisonBoothAuthor
Twitter: @booth_alison
Instagram: @alisonboothauthor9723