There is an oft-talked about scene in my new book The Ghosts of Paris where my main character, private inquiry agent Billie Walker, enters the famous Hôtel Ritz Paris in 1947. Parisians and foreigners are happily drinking and going about their post-war lives less than...
Why Classic Crime Fiction Was Obsessed With Fashion
Early in my career as a novelist, I received a critical review of my work complaining that I described, in too much detail, the garments worn by my characters. It may have been fair comment. I was in my twenties at the time, a debut crime novelist. My writing instinct...
Publishers Weekly Reviews The War Widow
Set in 1946, this spirted series launch from Canadian-Australian author Moss (the Makedde Vanderwall books) introduces Billie Walker, a former war correspondent who reopens her dead father’s private inquiry firm after the Sydney...
Pandora English Resurrected
When I last blogged about Pandora English, it was about needing to find a new home for her series. Well, we found it. Pandora’s full story to date is being republished by Echo Publishing, starting today.
The Henry Lawson Festival of the Arts
Over the long weekend I had the pleasure of spending time in the town of Grenfell, NSW, as the official special guest of the 60th Henry Lawson Festival of the Arts. The beloved Australian bush poet and author Henry Lawson was born in a Grenfell gold field in 1867, to...
Speaking Out: A 21st Century Handbook for Women and Girls – an extract
My 11th book and 2nd work of non-fiction, Speaking Out: A 21st Century Handbook for Women and Girls is officially out today. Why Speaking Out? Why a handbook? And why now? This book arose partly from the shocking statistic that worldwide fewer than 1 in 4 people we hear from or about in the media is female…
The Fictional Woman Cover Shoot – Wearing Labels
The Fictional Woman has won Best Non-Fiction Book Design at the 63rd Australian Book Design Awards, for designers Tara Moss and Matt Stanton from HarperCollins. Here’s how the cover happened:
Where is Pandora?
Dear Pandora English fans, thank you for your patience. Every week I am asked, ‘Where is Pandora?’ Now it’s time to let you know…
2014 Wrap Up
Between parenthood, study at the University of Sydney, completing the course work for my doctorate, and launching my tenth book, I was pretty remiss on blog updates this year. Here’s some of what I was up to:
The Fictional Woman launches at SWF
My first non-fiction book, The Fictional Woman, was launched last month at the Sydney Writers’ Festival and has since become a #1 non-fiction best-seller. At the launch, guests were invited to share the fictions that have followed them through their lives.