Alexandra Joel’s latest book The Royal Correspondent is one for fans of The Crown TV series – revisiting as it does swinging London in the 60s, seen through the eyes of a young Australian journalist, coming from the wrong side of the tracks, promoted to covering the British royal family.br /

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Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and in today’s Binge Reading episode Alexandra talks about the scandalous family story – one from her own family – that got her started in fiction, her father’s rags to riches story, and how, having discovered fiction writing as her third career, she doesn’t plan to change to a fourth any time soon.br /

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Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:br /

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How her father's amazing life inspired The Royal CorrespondentHer grandmother's scandalous escapeGrace Wood - a remarkable Australian in ParisThe magic of Mary QuantWhy she loves her third career The writers she loves - including Rose Tremain and Benjamin Blackbr /

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Where to find Alexandra Joel: br /

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Website : https://www.alexandrajoel.com/br /

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Facebook: @AlexandraJoelAuthorbr /

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandrajoelauthor/br /

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What follows is a near as transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.br /

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But now, here’s Alexandra.br /

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Jenny Wheeler: Hello there, Alexandra, and welcome to the show. It's so good to have you with us.br /

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Alexandra Joel: I am delighted to be talking to you, Jenny.br /

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Alexandra Joel - Australian historic fiction authorbr /

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Jenny Wheeler: You've had a stellar career in journalism, and we'll talk about that a little later, but you have now very successfully transitioned to writing fiction and your most recent book, The Royal Correspondent, is an entertaining revisiting of 1960s London through the eyes of a young Australian journalist, Blaise Hill. It's one for fans of The Crown for starters, isn't it?br /

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As we've said, you started as a journalist yourself. How did you make that transition to being a novelist?br /

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Introducing author Alexandra Joelbr /

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Alexandra Joel: As a child, I learned to read very young and I was immediately captured by the concept of story. I read and read. I used to tell stories to my classmates, but I was so in awe of novelists, I didn't think I could ever do it, so I stuck to nonfiction. When I wrote my memoir about my great-grandmother Rosetta, something shifted within me.br /

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To set the scene, Rosetta was a happily married (so we thought) very young woman in Edwardian Melbourne with a husband and a five-year-old child, and she ran away with a half-Chinese fortune teller called Zeno the Magnificent. The pair completely reinvented themselves. He said he was a distinguished doctor from Japan; she said she was American.br /

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Alexandra's great-grandmother and Zeno together - Picture ABC.br /

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They went over to London and they became the toast of the town. I have letters from royalty and wonderful telegrams saying things like, please come and stay at my villa in Cap Martin because Princess Charlotte will be there, and Empress Eugenie is popping in. But the whole thing was invented. They led an incredible life, but she never saw her child again, and that child was my grandmother.br /

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A scandalous grandmother's storybr /

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When I wrote the book, I used two voices. One was their life, told using the techniques of fiction because after all, whoever knew what they were saying – was it true, was it false? Nobody knew.