Hazel Gaynor’s best-selling historical novels take famous events and look at how they affected the lives of the “little people.”  Her most recent work - her eighth - Meet Me in Monaco - does just that with the events surrounding Grace Kelly’s Monaco marriage to Princess Rainier.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Hazel talks about what it takes to build a successful author career and the Titanic love story that got her launched.

And as a special treat we've got three paperback copies of her latest book Meet Me in Monaco to giveaway in a draw to three lucky readers. Enter through the website or our Joys of Binge Reading Facebook page. Entries close March 27 check. Enter link here.

Enter the draw to win a paperback copy of Meet Me In Monaco

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

How did Hazel break into writingThe magic of MonacoThe Titanic's Irish connectionWriting with a collaborative partnerThe writers she admires mostWhat she'd do differently second time around

Where to find Hazel Gaynor: 

Website:  https://www.hazelgaynor.com/

Facebook: @hazelgaynorbooks

 Twitter: @hazelgaynor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hazelgaynor/

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny Wheeler:  But now here is Hazel. Hello

there, Hazel, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Hazel Gaynor - Best selling historical fiction from her home in Ireland

Hazel Gaynor: Hi, it's so great to be here. Thanks so much for inviting me.

Jenny Wheeler: Your first novel won a historical novel of the year contest from the

Romance Novelist Association.  You've

gone on to write seven other historical novels. Most of them have been best

sellers in more than one country, and the most recent of them is Meet Me in

Monaco, which details Grace Kelly's transition to Princess Grace. So how did

you get started?

Getting down to being an author

Hazel Gaynor: Gosh. Well, it's interesting because actually my first finished

novel was never published. That's in a drawer, never to see the light of day,

which I think is the experience of most published authors. And it's just that

process of believing in yourself, finding time in your day. I was writing at

the start of my career when I had very young children, so there was no time to

actually sit down and write.

The Girl Who Came Home - a Novel of Irish families on the Titanic by Hazel Gaynor

But it's funny how you find time. And so that was my learning book, and I think most authors have one of those. But I think the process of writing that gave me the confidence so when I started to write The Girl Who Came Home, which is inspired by the story of the Titanic and a group of Irish passengers on the Titanic specifically, I think because I had sat down at the kitchen table at five o'clock in the morning before anyone was awake, I knew I could do it.

Beginning with a 'Mum's column'

So that was really where I started.

Although I had two years prior to writing a novel, I had written a blog about

my life as an ex corporate business woman who then became a stay at home mom

and all of the sort of huge changes that brought to my life. So I've been

writing about my personal experience, writing about being a mum.

And again, I think it just, it's like an

apprenticeship. It let me find my voice, my style, and just the confidence to stop

doubting myself and to sit down and write and see what happened.

Jenny Wheeler: Yes. Now that first unpublished novel, was that also historical?

Hazel Gaynor: No, it wasn't actually. It was very contemporary. I suppose it would

be  called contemporary women's fiction,

and it's interesting because that's probably why it didn't become the book I

was meant to get published with because it wasn't really where my passion,

where my heart was. My heart has always been,