Being taken on by a high profile literary agency should have been the start of Hazel Gaynor’s career, but unfortunately they couldn’t place her Titanic novel The Girl Who Came Home. With the Titanic anniversary rapidly approaching, Hazel decided to self publish and opened the door to the career as an international bestseller. Drilling into how Hazel achieved this, Sam Blake discusses how she created her own opportunities and the bestselling books that followed it. Delving into how much research goes into bestselling historical fiction, creating unforgettable characters and the incredible buzz when a celebrity tweets about your work, Sam Blake quizzes Hazel on the keys to her success.

Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today and Irish Times bestselling historical novelist. Her 2014 debut novel The Girl Who Came Home—A Novel of the Titanic hit the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists, and went on to win the 2015 Historical Novel of the Year award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her second novel A Memory of Violets, was also a New York Times bestseller, and her third, The Girl from The Savoy was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail bestseller, and a finalist for the 2016 Irish Book Awards. Her 2017 release The Cottingley Secret hit the Globe & Mail and USA Today bestseller lists. Last Christmas in Paris (co-written with Heather Webb) was also a Globe & Mail bestseller, and won the 2018 Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award.

Hazel’s 2018 release The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, inspired by true events surrounding the life of Victorian lighthouse keeper, Grace Darling, was a top 10 Irish Times bestseller for five consecutive weeks.

Summer 2019 will see the publication of Meet Me In Monaco, Hazel’s second collaboration with Heather Webb. The book is set against the back-drop of the iconic wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco.

All Hazel’s novels have been received to critical-acclaim and are translated into ten foreign languages and published in seventeen countries to date. Hazel lives in Ireland with her husband and two children and is represented by Michelle Brower at Aevitas Creative, New York.

Behind the Bestseller is part of the HeadStuff Podcast Network

Theme Music by Tim Nerney