Emily Paull

The problem with being a history nerd is that there's a lot of historical time periods to get excited about. My current era of fascination is The Great War.  That's not a sentence I ever thought I would be saying, but here we are, three or four months in to the writing of Book Two and things are beginning to fall into place.  I have done all my usual little 'new book' things, like collaging the front cover of a spiral bound notebook, and purchasing/ borrowing from the library all the relevant books I could find.  I've been on Trove.  Gosh, that's a rabbit hole! I had forgotten how unsettling it can be to begin writing a book set in a time you know nothing about.  It's a little like beginning to walk across a tightrope with no safety net.  One moment, you're off and travelling and the next, you come to a wobbly halt.  Hang on , you think, Can my characters be doing that?  Did that actually exist?   It's a stop-starty way to write a book,...

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris Echo Publishing, 2018 This book has well and truly taken the world by storm.  It is a best seller most of the world over and has been for weeks on end, and if you want a copy from your local library, be prepared to wait a few months for your turn.  I decided this weekend to check out what all the fuss was about... It is the story of Lale, a young Slovakian Jew who is taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp in April of 1942 where he is given the opportunity to become the Tatowierer, the tattooist who must write the numbers onto the arms of the new prisoners who arrive day by day.  Because this job falls under the offices of the Political Wing of the SS, Lale is afforded a degree of freedom which allows him to do his bit to try and keep his fellow inmates alive, even when it means risking his own life.  It is while he is redoing the tattoo on her arm that he meets Gita, the love of his life. The book is based on a...

The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell Hachette Australia, 2018 If, like me, you feel the September release of the new Kate Morton novel is just a little bit too far away, you'll be happy to hear that there is a new novel by Hannah Richell.  Following on from The Secret of the Tides  and The Shadow Year , this third novel from the bestselling author is her strongest yet.  The Peacock Summer  is the story of Lillian Oberon, who at 26 finds herself the wife of a rich and powerful man and lady of a beautiful manor house called Cloudsley.  While life at Cloudsley is not as idyllic as it seemed on the surface, there are many things tying Lillian to the house, not least of which is the love she develops for her young stepson, Albie, who is the closest thing Lillian will ever have to a child of her own.  When Charles, Lillian's husband, hires a local up and coming painter for an ambitious project that will see him moving into their house for a summer, Lillian's...