Spotlight on Ella Carey, The Paris Time Capsule and Giveaway!

Today's Author Spotlight is on Australian author Ella Carey. And she's got a kindle copy giveaway of her debut release THE PARIS TIME CAPSULE to one commentater.

Ella on the web:

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 The Paris Time Capsule

Who is Ella Carey?

I have a complete fascination for reading that I have had ever since I was young; I find books are ‘the thing.’ Along with this, I have always had a tendency to make up all sorts of settings, characters and stories in my head. These days, I just write them down! I love history, music, art, and travel. I adore travelling in Europe in particular; I could never be there enough.

Who is your favourite author?

I am going to have to choose a few! Ernest Hemingway for his incredible, innovative writing style, and wonderful descriptions that make you feel as if you are in the same place he is; Emily Bronte, for passion; Jane Austen, for wit, characters, and everything else; Edith Wharton, for charm and Tolstoy, for Anna Karenina. I think I may be living in the wrong century here!

Do you listen to music while you write?

Rarely. The problem is I find I become so involved with the music that I don’t concentrate on the world that is my story. I am half listening to the music instead. I play the piano, and have a degree in music, so maybe I am just too attuned to listening. Maybe I overanalyze it, then that will affect my writing … but just sometimes, it can be brilliant having music playing, and you write along with the music. It’s a mix!

What type of music do you like to listen to?

Bach. I love Bach. His cello suites. And Chopin. Rachmaninov. There is something about certain pieces of music that is perfection. When they finish, you are left, thinking … yes. Whatever it encapsulated was almost magical, something else. Mozart’s Requiem is one of those pieces. And these pieces are history, you can feel what the composers are writing about … it’s as if they are telling you about what they have felt, what they have been through, what their countries have been through. I love that.

What do you do to relax?

I walk to relax, with my beautiful girls, my two dogs. I have so many people asking me if they are whippets, but they are not! They need little t-shirts that say: ‘I am not a whippet!’ They are Italian greyhounds. They love their walk too.

Tell us about your book …

The novel was inspired by the true story of an apartment that was abandoned in Paris when the owner fled just before the Nazi invasion in June, 1940. This was reported on many online articles and blogs. The pictures were incredible, atmospheric rooms, a dressing table laid with silver backed brushes and ancient bottles of scent, a painting that turned out to be a portrait by the Belle Epoque artist Giovanni Boldini. What was intriguing was why the owner never went back. Why did she leave such a treasure trove, her home, everything she must have loved, never to return to Paris before her death?

To me, this was a fascinating story. I started to research it. My lead character Cat evolved with her own set of problems, her own attitude towards life and love and other things. She filtered into the story set in Paris. So it became something else again. When I considered that Marthe de Florian, the woman in the portrait found in the apartment, was a courtesan, I became interested in how the generation into which we are born affects us so very much. There are other women in the novel too, from other generations again. I was also interested in exploring secrets; the things we don’t share. I am a hopeless romantic. Looking at this blog, it is all do with romance.

One thing I am interested in, is what do readers here love about romantic novels?

Inspired by the true story of an apartment in Paris that was abandoned for seventy years. The owner fled Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion in 1940 … but why did she never return? 

New York photographer Cat Jordan has fought hard to free herself from the past, but when a stranger dies, Cat finds herself the sole inheritor of a treasure filled apartment in Paris that has been locked up and abandoned for seventy years. A stash of love letters belonging to Marthe de Florian, one of the Belle Époque’s most famous demimondaines, and the appearance of the mysterious Isabelle de Florian’s grandson leads Cat in search of the reasons why Isabelle kept her Paris apartment a secret, and why she left her entire estate to Cat. As Cat unravels the story, she too begins her own journey, realizing that the secrets in the apartment may finally unfasten the future.

Praise for Ella Carey:

"Ella Carey creates an almost impossibly romantic atmosphere."Rachel Edwards, Review of Australian Fiction.

I am so looking forward to the release of The Paris Time-Capsule. Ella Carey is one of the most talented writers I have ever worked with. Roll on release day!' Melanie Milburne, USA Today best selling author

For more information please visit www.theparistimecapsule.com 

Read Reviews 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon UK        Australia

 India      New Zealand 

US and rest of the world      Amazon US

    Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Paris Time Capsule

by Ella Carey

Giveaway ends April 30, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win