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
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 20th century
- Gender
- female
- 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 - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Yorkshire, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Ireland
- Associated Place (for map)
- England, UK
Members
Reviews
The Girl from the Savoy is one of those books that reads like a cozy blanket when you want to indulge in a cry and finish off feeling determined. It has melodrama in spades, and plot points that are telegraphed rather than foreshadowed, and it's set in a gloriously rich historical place featuring a starry-eyed young woman who will make it in the world despite her tragic past.
Unfortunately, I was not in the right mood for this book in the several months it took me to slog through. I should show more have stopped reading early on and passed it to the next reader, but I wanted to confirm my predictions about the plot (I was right), and I was a little morbidly curious about exactly how tepid the story could be.
While the setting itself appeals to me - early 1920s Upstairs/downstairs in London! - there was something a bit off for my tastes. It was all highly detailed, but perhaps in the wrong ways. I don't tend to enjoy highly specific pop culture call outs in historical novels, although I know other people do.
There is a lot going on in the plot, but it all felt rather like the covers this genre gets: sort of indistinctly romantic with soft edges and incongruous elements smushed together to seem like one. The first World War is five years in the past, but is practically a fourth main character - themes of shell shock or life on the homefront or the high mortality of the war are hugely relevant and often immediate concerns for the plot, but somehow without any urgency or emotion, because of that gauzey romantic history filter. Likewise, Dolly's and Loretta's tragic backstories of lost loves and lost children are sort of vaguely sad unless the intensity of emotion is suddenly ramped up to 11 for plot reasons - except that those plot reasons were so expected that the effect of the increase in tension after so much of the exact opposite was more laughable than anything. Too often, the telegraphed plot points came through by the luckiest of coincidences, which made the increase in tension even less appropriate. Unlikely coincidences are a dime a dozen in fiction, else where would the stories come from?, but I can't think of anything that moved or resolved the plot of this book that didn't have some kind of coincidence involved.
The melodrama of Loretta May was my least favorite part of the book. While she's an important character and her story is a mirror to Dolly's, her POV had the same voice as you might expect from an ancient Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, and it was just so hard to take her seriously with all the brooding and woe-is-me. The book would have been much stronger to ditch the extra perspectives and just stick to Dolly's POV or slightly less limited third person.
On the whole, I don't think The Girl from the Savoy is a bad book. It just didn't work for me and especially didn't match the reading mood I have had the last few months. While I have great appreciation for the overall arc of the plot (especially the way the curtain closed on Dolly, before the epilogue), it never seemed to have any significance or weight. But I believe this will appeal to readers who want historical fiction and love the "A Star is Born" narrative and are in the mood for the cozy blanket type of novel. I am not that reader, not this summer. show less
Unfortunately, I was not in the right mood for this book in the several months it took me to slog through. I should show more have stopped reading early on and passed it to the next reader, but I wanted to confirm my predictions about the plot (I was right), and I was a little morbidly curious about exactly how tepid the story could be.
While the setting itself appeals to me - early 1920s Upstairs/downstairs in London! - there was something a bit off for my tastes. It was all highly detailed, but perhaps in the wrong ways. I don't tend to enjoy highly specific pop culture call outs in historical novels, although I know other people do.
There is a lot going on in the plot, but it all felt rather like the covers this genre gets: sort of indistinctly romantic with soft edges and incongruous elements smushed together to seem like one. The first World War is five years in the past, but is practically a fourth main character - themes of shell shock or life on the homefront or the high mortality of the war are hugely relevant and often immediate concerns for the plot, but somehow without any urgency or emotion, because of that gauzey romantic history filter. Likewise, Dolly's and Loretta's tragic backstories of lost loves and lost children are sort of vaguely sad unless the intensity of emotion is suddenly ramped up to 11 for plot reasons - except that those plot reasons were so expected that the effect of the increase in tension after so much of the exact opposite was more laughable than anything. Too often, the telegraphed plot points came through by the luckiest of coincidences, which made the increase in tension even less appropriate. Unlikely coincidences are a dime a dozen in fiction, else where would the stories come from?, but I can't think of anything that moved or resolved the plot of this book that didn't have some kind of coincidence involved.
The melodrama of Loretta May was my least favorite part of the book. While she's an important character and her story is a mirror to Dolly's, her POV had the same voice as you might expect from an ancient Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, and it was just so hard to take her seriously with all the brooding and woe-is-me. The book would have been much stronger to ditch the extra perspectives and just stick to Dolly's POV or slightly less limited third person.
On the whole, I don't think The Girl from the Savoy is a bad book. It just didn't work for me and especially didn't match the reading mood I have had the last few months. While I have great appreciation for the overall arc of the plot (especially the way the curtain closed on Dolly, before the epilogue), it never seemed to have any significance or weight. But I believe this will appeal to readers who want historical fiction and love the "A Star is Born" narrative and are in the mood for the cozy blanket type of novel. I am not that reader, not this summer. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The story of the Cottingley fairies has fascinated me for years. I'm sure it is because Arthur Conan Doyle got involved by writing about and promoting the photographs created by the two girls in Yorkshire. Now I'm fascinated because of the other point of view, that of those girls. The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor has a dual plot -- one is historical and imagines an autobiography written by Frances Griffiths, the younger of the two cousins, explaining what they did and why and the other show more is that of a modern day bookshop owner, Olivia, who is reading the manuscript for the first time and finding her unexpected connection to it.
I am going to tell you something amazing about this book. Both the historical narrative and the modern day one? EQUALLY INTERESTING. While I was reading one, I was simultaneously getting excited to get back to the other one. Crazy, right? This hardly ever happens. Gaynor managed both eras perfectly and I truly cared about both Frances and Olivia (and many of their friends and family members). I don't want to spoil anything about the modern-day story but I was also impressed by how she closed out that story line. She didn't take the expected route and make everything tidy and I loved that. If there is an overarching message in this book, it is the fact that life isn't tidy and that there are grey areas in everything and many of us are just trying our best. Also, there just might be fairies in the world after all.
http://webereading.com/2017/08/new-release-cottingley-secret.html show less
I am going to tell you something amazing about this book. Both the historical narrative and the modern day one? EQUALLY INTERESTING. While I was reading one, I was simultaneously getting excited to get back to the other one. Crazy, right? This hardly ever happens. Gaynor managed both eras perfectly and I truly cared about both Frances and Olivia (and many of their friends and family members). I don't want to spoil anything about the modern-day story but I was also impressed by how she closed out that story line. She didn't take the expected route and make everything tidy and I loved that. If there is an overarching message in this book, it is the fact that life isn't tidy and that there are grey areas in everything and many of us are just trying our best. Also, there just might be fairies in the world after all.
http://webereading.com/2017/08/new-release-cottingley-secret.html show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Whimsical, lyrical, a pure delight, and I fell into this magical story just like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. It is 1917 and Nine year old Frances and her mother leave South Africa for Cottingley, England to stay with family while her father fights in the war. There she find a cousin, Elsie, 16 who introduces Frances to the Beck. Despite their age difference the girls become fast friends, it is here there are said to be fairies. Here they will take pictures that seem to prove it, show more pictures that will haunt the girls for many years, even bringing Arthur Conan Doyle into their sphere. This is of course all true, historical happenings and the two girls were very real people.
The made up portion of the story, 2017, O!ivias beloved grandfather has died, leaving her a dusty old bookstore in Ireland. I wish someone would leave me a dusty old bookstore, anywhere. In the bookshop she finds the pages of the girls story, but how are they connected to her?
Beautiful, beautiful words, passages, fairies and magical happenings such as this
"I think the books come alive at night when the shop is closed and the lights are turned out, I think they open their covers and fan out their pages like wings and start to fly. Imagine it. Hundreds of books, flapping their pages, soaring and swooping because they're so alive with stories they can't possibly sit still on the shelf."
How can one not find that magical? Makes me smile. Plus, this is one of only a few with dual story lines where I enjoyed and liked them both. Took me back to a time of childhood, imagination and play, when time was meaningless. The authors note is so special, includes the facts and the photographs. Also, something that surprised but is a fantastic addition. Loved everything about this one.
ARC from edelweiss. show less
The made up portion of the story, 2017, O!ivias beloved grandfather has died, leaving her a dusty old bookstore in Ireland. I wish someone would leave me a dusty old bookstore, anywhere. In the bookshop she finds the pages of the girls story, but how are they connected to her?
Beautiful, beautiful words, passages, fairies and magical happenings such as this
"I think the books come alive at night when the shop is closed and the lights are turned out, I think they open their covers and fan out their pages like wings and start to fly. Imagine it. Hundreds of books, flapping their pages, soaring and swooping because they're so alive with stories they can't possibly sit still on the shelf."
How can one not find that magical? Makes me smile. Plus, this is one of only a few with dual story lines where I enjoyed and liked them both. Took me back to a time of childhood, imagination and play, when time was meaningless. The authors note is so special, includes the facts and the photographs. Also, something that surprised but is a fantastic addition. Loved everything about this one.
ARC from edelweiss. show less
Christmas with the Queen: A Delightful Christmas Tale with Emotional Depth, Join a Royal Celebration Full of Surprises by Hazel Gaynor
Princess Elizabeth became the Queen in February, 1952 when she was just 25 years old. As this story begins, it's getting close to Christmas and the Queen is worried about her first Christmas Day radio broadcast. England and the other colonies are still suffering from the results of the war and she wants to give a speech that is hopeful and uplifting and show her plans for changes in the upcoming year.
Olive is working for the BBC. She's in a clerical position but she wants to be a reporter. show more When the reporter who covers the Royal Family becomes ill, she begs to take his place for the Christmas celebration at Sandringham House. They agree to give her a chance so she leaves her young daughter with her parents and goes to spend Christmas with the royal family. She has a chance encounter with the Queen and ends up helping her with her Christmas address. While she is there, she runs into Jack who is the newest addition to the kitchen. He is an old friend and a recent widower who took the job with the royal family to help him deal with his grief over losing his wife. Olive and Jack had been friends several years before but after Jack got married they lost touch with each other. When they meet again, there are sparks between the two of them. But they both have their new careers to work on so they say goodbye with no plans to meet again. Over the next five years, Olive and Jack continue to run into each other and getting closer but Olive can't let it go too far because she is keeping a big secret from him that will alter their relationship if he ever finds out. Will their relationship continue to grow or is it doomed for failure?
I always admired Queen Elizabeth and even though this was fiction, the authors provided us with an inside glimpse of her as not only Queen but also as a wife and mother. I enjoyed reading about all of the hard work that went into the meals that the family ate especially for Christmas. Plus there was a lot of talk about food - preparing it and trying new recipes that was fun to read. I also really enjoyed the characters of Olive and Jack. They were very well written and their growth as characters throughout the story was very well done.
This book is not just about the Queen but is also a love story of second chances for Olive and Jack. When she reveals her secret to Jack, will that be the end of their relationship or will the spirit of Christmas give their relationship a chance? show less
Olive is working for the BBC. She's in a clerical position but she wants to be a reporter. show more When the reporter who covers the Royal Family becomes ill, she begs to take his place for the Christmas celebration at Sandringham House. They agree to give her a chance so she leaves her young daughter with her parents and goes to spend Christmas with the royal family. She has a chance encounter with the Queen and ends up helping her with her Christmas address. While she is there, she runs into Jack who is the newest addition to the kitchen. He is an old friend and a recent widower who took the job with the royal family to help him deal with his grief over losing his wife. Olive and Jack had been friends several years before but after Jack got married they lost touch with each other. When they meet again, there are sparks between the two of them. But they both have their new careers to work on so they say goodbye with no plans to meet again. Over the next five years, Olive and Jack continue to run into each other and getting closer but Olive can't let it go too far because she is keeping a big secret from him that will alter their relationship if he ever finds out. Will their relationship continue to grow or is it doomed for failure?
I always admired Queen Elizabeth and even though this was fiction, the authors provided us with an inside glimpse of her as not only Queen but also as a wife and mother. I enjoyed reading about all of the hard work that went into the meals that the family ate especially for Christmas. Plus there was a lot of talk about food - preparing it and trying new recipes that was fun to read. I also really enjoyed the characters of Olive and Jack. They were very well written and their growth as characters throughout the story was very well done.
This book is not just about the Queen but is also a love story of second chances for Olive and Jack. When she reveals her secret to Jack, will that be the end of their relationship or will the spirit of Christmas give their relationship a chance? show less
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