Tuesday 17 April 2012

Publishing contract for The Lion's Embrace!

I am delighted to announce that I have just signed a publishing contract for my second historical romance 'The Lion's Embrace' with Muse it Up Publishing. The novel is scheduled for release in February 2013.

Here is the blurb for the novel:

Arrogant, selfish and dangerous, Lucas Saintclair is everything bookish Harriet Montague dislikes in a man. He is also the best guide in the whole of the Barbary States and the only man who can rescue her archaeologist father from a gang of Tuareg fighters. As Harriet embarks on a perilous journey to the Sahara desert, she discovers a bewitching but brutal land where reality blurs into mirages and she soon questions everything and everyone around her.

What was her father hoping to discover in Tin Hinan’s tomb, the legendary Touareg queen, and will she get there in time to save him? Is Lucas really as mercenary as he wants her to believe? And most of all, is he capable of loving her after ruthlessly capturing her heart, her body and her very soul?  

In the heat of the Sahara, dangerous passions, secrets of lost treasures and a sinister British criminal brotherhood threaten Harriet’s life and the life of the man she loves.

The Lion’s Embrace is a thrilling tale of adventure, passion and ancient mysteries set in North Africa and England in the 1840s.


Images and photos are always very important to me when I write, when I imagine characters and settings and when I plot the storyline, but for 'The Lion's Embrace', one photo in particular inspired me more than any other.

And it's this one!

As I immersed myself in research about North Africa and the Sahara in particular, about the Tuaregs, their history and their culture, I listened to a lot of music, but like for the photo, one song caught my imagination. Now, I have no idea what they are singing about! I just find the melody poignant and haunting, especially the Tuareg musical instrument called 'the Imzad' you can hear all the way through the song.

So here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5z7AcjE-YI

Saturday 14 April 2012

A kiss anyone? The wonderful photos of Robert Doisneau


Just because I am French and today is the centenary of the birth of Robert Doisneau, one of France’s most celebrated photographers, I thought I would show some of his most romantic and atmospheric photos here.

Enjoy…


And of course,