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
Just saying 1955 Cannes evokes glamour and style, doesn't it? And who better to epitomize that old Hollywood glamour than Grace Kelly? How hard must it have been to be so sought after, so in the spotlight, all the time. But even as Kelly was embarking on what was seen as a real life fairy tale, another, quieter love story was happening around her in Meet Me in Monaco, a charming historical novel by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.
Sophie Duval runs her family's boutique parfumerie in Cannes. show more The shop and Sophie are both struggling after the death of Sophie's beloved father. But on a day when the film festival is in town, Grace Kelly ducks into Sophie's shop in an effort to elude a very persistent British photographer. Sophie makes the split second decision to protect the star, kicking off a warm connection between the women that will change Sophie's life. The photographer, James Henderson, snaps a photo of Sophie instead of his intended subject and after he abruptly returns to England, he will not be able to forget the beautiful parfumeur and the brief, happy time they spent in each other's company before he was called home. Given a second chance to photograph Grace Kelly, this time for her wedding to Prince Ranier, James contacts Sophie in hopes of meeting her again.
There is a love story, the threat of financial ruin, duplicity, soul mates, Hollywood, and royalty all wrapped into this story about two people brought together by chance in the orbit of Grace Kelly. It is far more Sophie and James' stories than Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier's but the glamour of the moment swirls around the lesser known couple too. Love is won and lost and never forgotten. The romance was a bit predictable but still pleasing for all that. The details of creating a perfume, the chemistry and the special intangible spark, that go into an entirely new fragrance are fascinating and the personal tale is bittersweet and mostly lovely. Fictional newspaper reports about the courtship and wedding are sprinkled between chapters, showing the world's love affair with the princess to be and giving a timeline for James and Sophie's relationship. The story behind the breathless newspaper accounts is interesting for showing more detail of the realities of covering the wedding of the century and the reserved young woman marrying a prince. The various secondary characters are drawn to different degrees of completeness but each of them help James and Sophie come to realizations about themselves and about what matters most to them in their lives, family, passion, loyalty. In the end, this is an engaging novel for fans of historical fiction and of novels set in France or Monaco who don't mind more than a little romance in their stories and who don't care if the famous person in the novel is not the focus. show less
Sophie Duval runs her family's boutique parfumerie in Cannes. show more The shop and Sophie are both struggling after the death of Sophie's beloved father. But on a day when the film festival is in town, Grace Kelly ducks into Sophie's shop in an effort to elude a very persistent British photographer. Sophie makes the split second decision to protect the star, kicking off a warm connection between the women that will change Sophie's life. The photographer, James Henderson, snaps a photo of Sophie instead of his intended subject and after he abruptly returns to England, he will not be able to forget the beautiful parfumeur and the brief, happy time they spent in each other's company before he was called home. Given a second chance to photograph Grace Kelly, this time for her wedding to Prince Ranier, James contacts Sophie in hopes of meeting her again.
There is a love story, the threat of financial ruin, duplicity, soul mates, Hollywood, and royalty all wrapped into this story about two people brought together by chance in the orbit of Grace Kelly. It is far more Sophie and James' stories than Grace Kelly and Prince Ranier's but the glamour of the moment swirls around the lesser known couple too. Love is won and lost and never forgotten. The romance was a bit predictable but still pleasing for all that. The details of creating a perfume, the chemistry and the special intangible spark, that go into an entirely new fragrance are fascinating and the personal tale is bittersweet and mostly lovely. Fictional newspaper reports about the courtship and wedding are sprinkled between chapters, showing the world's love affair with the princess to be and giving a timeline for James and Sophie's relationship. The story behind the breathless newspaper accounts is interesting for showing more detail of the realities of covering the wedding of the century and the reserved young woman marrying a prince. The various secondary characters are drawn to different degrees of completeness but each of them help James and Sophie come to realizations about themselves and about what matters most to them in their lives, family, passion, loyalty. In the end, this is an engaging novel for fans of historical fiction and of novels set in France or Monaco who don't mind more than a little romance in their stories and who don't care if the famous person in the novel is not the focus. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Dorothy Lane, Dolly to her friends, has always dreamed of more for herself than to be a maid. However, as World War I approaches, her love, Teddy is sent off and things change drastically for them both. Teddy returns with shell shock and Dolly has endured much in his absence. Now, Dolly chases adventure in London where she finds employment as a maid to the stars at the Savoy. While at the Savoy, Dolly takes up an advertisement for a musician looking for a muse. Perry Clements is a struggling show more composer, his sister Loretta May is a starlet of the stage. Dolly agrees to inspire Perry while Loretta teaches her to stand out in a crowd and brings Dolly closer to the life she has dreamed about.
A tantalizing story about love, loss, recovery and ambition that spans World War I through the Jazz Age in London. Switching points of view between Dolly, Loretta and Teddy there is a very full view of the damaging effects of the war from every angle. Dolly's was the most intriguing for me as her secrets kept during the war unravel and she begins to finally realize her dreams. Dolly is a true dreamer and adventurer. I admired her resilience and ability to chase her fantasy life. Teddy's point of view was also crucial for me, even though it didn't quite fit in with the Dolly and Loretta's shared experiences. His struggle with shell shock and remembering what he could have had was very delicately done and drew me into his experience. Finally, what drew me into the book was the setting and time period, the glamour of the Savoy was brilliantly described and the mood of the time could be imagined through the descriptions of music, theatre, dance and dress. show less
A tantalizing story about love, loss, recovery and ambition that spans World War I through the Jazz Age in London. Switching points of view between Dolly, Loretta and Teddy there is a very full view of the damaging effects of the war from every angle. Dolly's was the most intriguing for me as her secrets kept during the war unravel and she begins to finally realize her dreams. Dolly is a true dreamer and adventurer. I admired her resilience and ability to chase her fantasy life. Teddy's point of view was also crucial for me, even though it didn't quite fit in with the Dolly and Loretta's shared experiences. His struggle with shell shock and remembering what he could have had was very delicately done and drew me into his experience. Finally, what drew me into the book was the setting and time period, the glamour of the Savoy was brilliantly described and the mood of the time could be imagined through the descriptions of music, theatre, dance and dress. show less
This is a dual timeline story – one set in 1912 featuring seventeen-year-old Maggie and a group of Irish immigrants traveling in steerage on the Titanic and the other set in 1982 featuring Grace, Maggie’s great granddaughter, an aspiring writer whose college education is derailed by a family tragedy. The two storylines converge when Maggie shares her story with Grace.
I have mixed feelings about this book. As in other books I have read by Hazel Gaynor, she is adept at describing historic show more details that help the reader envision the period. The scenes on the Titanic are quite vivid. The inclusion of real cables and telegrams sent from the Titanic and the Carpathia is a nice touch. However, there are a few too many coincidences and large segments of exposition. In dual timeline stories, I always enjoy one more than the other. In this case, I enjoyed the historic story much more than the 1980s timeline.
I have an interest in history and have read several non-fiction books about the Titanic. The facts in this book are (mostly) in line with what actually occurred. This story is based on a real group of Irish immigrants, and I appreciated the author’s note that indicated what was fact versus fiction. For me, it falls in the middle of the pack. 3 stars = I liked it. show less
I have mixed feelings about this book. As in other books I have read by Hazel Gaynor, she is adept at describing historic show more details that help the reader envision the period. The scenes on the Titanic are quite vivid. The inclusion of real cables and telegrams sent from the Titanic and the Carpathia is a nice touch. However, there are a few too many coincidences and large segments of exposition. In dual timeline stories, I always enjoy one more than the other. In this case, I enjoyed the historic story much more than the 1980s timeline.
I have an interest in history and have read several non-fiction books about the Titanic. The facts in this book are (mostly) in line with what actually occurred. This story is based on a real group of Irish immigrants, and I appreciated the author’s note that indicated what was fact versus fiction. For me, it falls in the middle of the pack. 3 stars = I liked it. show less
I spent the most glorious weekend in my garden in the best immersive reading experience with Met Me In Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb. When a story whisks me away to a time, location, feeling where everything else just melts away and you simply are inside the story with the characters I’m all in, hold everything, until the curtain is down. Gaynor and Webb masterfully build characters and settings that merge real, historical, and fictional, in a beautiful way that creates a show more wonderful story that takes place in Monaco at the time of Grace Kelly’s wedding.
While Grace Kelly and her royal wedding feature in the book the main focus is on a perfume maker, Sophie Duval, and photographer, James Henderson. We experience the events through their eyes. I loved evolution of Sophie and James, individually and together. The only thing that kept this from being five stars for me was a pacing choice later in the book. It didn’t work for me personally. I highly recommend Meet Me In Monaco for readers of romance and historical fiction, knowing the book contains elements of both.
Thank you to LibraryThing and William Marrow for an advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Meet Me In Monaco. show less
While Grace Kelly and her royal wedding feature in the book the main focus is on a perfume maker, Sophie Duval, and photographer, James Henderson. We experience the events through their eyes. I loved evolution of Sophie and James, individually and together. The only thing that kept this from being five stars for me was a pacing choice later in the book. It didn’t work for me personally. I highly recommend Meet Me In Monaco for readers of romance and historical fiction, knowing the book contains elements of both.
Thank you to LibraryThing and William Marrow for an advanced reader copy and the opportunity to review Meet Me In Monaco. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 16
- Also by
- 3
- Members
- 4,471
- Popularity
- #5,606
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 407
- ISBNs
- 163
- Languages
- 6
- Favorited
- 3
