Hazel Gaynor
Author of The Girl Who Came Home
About the Author
Hazel Gaynor's debut novel, The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic, was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller. A Memory of Violets is her second novel. In addition to historical fiction, she writes a popular guest blog, Carry on Writing, for national Irish writing website writing.ie. show more She shares thoughts and experiences of the writing process and has interviewed a number of popular authors, including; Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks, John Boyne and Cheryl Strayed. Hazel received the 2012 Cecil Day Lewis award for Emerging Writers and was selected by Library Journal as one of Ten Big Breakout Authors for 2015. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Hazel Gaynor
Works by Hazel Gaynor
Advice for Lady Adventurers 1 copy
La ragazza del Titanic 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Ireland
- Awards and honors
- Cecil Day Lewis Award for Emerging Writers
- Short biography
- Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today and international bestselling author. Her 2014 debut THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME won the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, A MEMORY OF VIOLETS was a 2015 WHSmith Fresh Talent pick, THE GIRL FROM THE SAVOY was shortlisted for the 2017 Irish Book Awards, and THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown Award. LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (co-written with Heather Webb) won the 2018 Women's Fiction Writers Association Star Award. Their most recent collaboration is MEET ME IN MONACO. Hazel's forthcoming historical novel, WE WILL BE BRAVE, set in China during WW2, will be published in North America in October 2020.
Hazel was selected by Library Journal as one of Ten Big Breakout Authors for 2015. Her work has been translated into fourteen languages to date. She is co-founder of creative writing events The Inspiration Project, and lives in Ireland with her husband and two children. She is represented by Michelle Brower of Aevitas Creative Management, New York.
For more information, visit www.hazelgaynor.com
Members
Reviews
The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic (P.S.) by Hazel Gaynor
Although the stories of the 14 characters from the same village who left Ireland to sail to the U.S. aboard the Titanic are fictitious, the number, sex and ages of the group members are true. Maggie's Aunt Kathleen is taking her back to America with her after the death of Maggie's mother. During the 6 months she is caring for her dying sister she encourages others in the village to also emigrate. Maggie, 17, is devastated to leave her boyfriend who must remain to care for his dying father. She plans to return when she is of age to make her own life. The story shifts from Maggie's story to that of her great-grandchild Grace's, who also has to change her life plans when her father dies and she must care for her sick mother. Maggie's story gives Grace a second chance at reaching her goals. The story is based on a tragedy, but the Titanic is the source of unending interest to many readers.… (more)
This epistolary novel is the correspondence between Evelyn, her brother Will, his best friend Thomas and her best friend Alice, with a few additional letters from other friends and family. It takes place between 1914 and 1918 during WWI. It is interspersed with Thomas' last journey to Paris in old age accompanied by his nurse where he reads all of the correspondence before unsealing Evelyn's last letter to him. It gave a very well researched history of living and participating in the war. At times it was a little slow but the content was well developed. Characters were true to life and lots of issues of the war years were included: class expectations for women and women's role in war, PTSD/war neuroses, dispensing/not dispensing of war news, the Spanish flu and dealing with a business at home while fighting on the front. Good book.… (more)
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Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks ()
Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 978-0063276215
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks ()
Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Number of Pages: 384
ISBN: 978-0063276215
Hazel Gaynor based her work of historical fiction, "The Last Lifeboat," on a real-life tragedy—the sinking of the SS City of Benares on September 17, 1940. Among the passengers on this ocean liner were ninety children. Their parents had made the wrenching decision to send their sons and daughters from England to Canada to protect them from aerial attacks and a potential invasion. A U-boat torpedoed the liner, and hundreds of people drowned in the North Atlantic.
Twenty-eight-year-old Alice King, eager to escape her stultifying existence under the thumb of her overbearing mother, signs up as a volunteer escort for boys and girls scheduled to be evacuated. We also meet Lily Nicholls, a widow living in London, who is fiercely protective of her ten-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. Should she allow them to join the other evacuees who will relocate to a neutral country while the war rages at home? This intense and haunting tale captures the terror of Londoners during the Blitz, when air raid sirens shrieked, and citizens hid in shelters until the all-clear sounded.
A major portion of the book focuses on lifeboat twelve, with thirty-five people aboard (including a lone woman and six children) that drifts away after their steamship, the SS Carlisle, is destroyed by a German submarine. The survivors, including Alice King, are battered by storms and subsist on meager rations. Alice and the other adults do what little they can to keep the frightened children safe. However, as the days pass and the supply of food and water becomes dangerously low, Alice suspects that the end is near. Gaynor discusses the failure of the British government to adequately protect the SS Carlisle. In addition, the author pays tribute to the valiant women who banded together to support one another; prioritized their children's welfare over their own; and fought back against government officials whose negligence contributed to the loss of the Carlisle. A few clichéd elements weaken the narrative somewhat, but overall, this a well-researched, compelling, and poignant novel.
… (more)
Twenty-eight-year-old Alice King, eager to escape her stultifying existence under the thumb of her overbearing mother, signs up as a volunteer escort for boys and girls scheduled to be evacuated. We also meet Lily Nicholls, a widow living in London, who is fiercely protective of her ten-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. Should she allow them to join the other evacuees who will relocate to a neutral country while the war rages at home? This intense and haunting tale captures the terror of Londoners during the Blitz, when air raid sirens shrieked, and citizens hid in shelters until the all-clear sounded.
A major portion of the book focuses on lifeboat twelve, with thirty-five people aboard (including a lone woman and six children) that drifts away after their steamship, the SS Carlisle, is destroyed by a German submarine. The survivors, including Alice King, are battered by storms and subsist on meager rations. Alice and the other adults do what little they can to keep the frightened children safe. However, as the days pass and the supply of food and water becomes dangerously low, Alice suspects that the end is near. Gaynor discusses the failure of the British government to adequately protect the SS Carlisle. In addition, the author pays tribute to the valiant women who banded together to support one another; prioritized their children's welfare over their own; and fought back against government officials whose negligence contributed to the loss of the Carlisle. A few clichéd elements weaken the narrative somewhat, but overall, this a well-researched, compelling, and poignant novel.
… (more)
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- Rating
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