Novels
Collections
Novellas and Short Stories
Gill Paul recommends
The Golden Hour (2024)Jacquie Bloese"A captivating panorama of late-Victorian Brighton, where beauty and seediness coexist in the shadowy alleyways behind the seafront. The story highlights the hypocrisy of a society where women are expected to be angels, while the men think nothing of buying titillating photographs for their private entertainment. All the characters are vividly drawn . . . and the writing is beautifully atmospheric."The Queen of Sugar Hill (2024)ReShonda Tate Billingsley"Hattie McDaniel steps out of the pages and into our hearts with this revealing novel about her experiences after winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Gone With the Wind. Warm and passionate, ambitious and driven, Hattie battles against the studios that try to pigeonhole her, the activists who criticize her, the neighbors who don't want her living in their district. This is an eye-opening story about a remarkable woman, and I was gripped from the start." The London Bookshop Affair (2024)Louise Fein"Louise Fein brilliantly conjures up the atmosphere of London in the early Sixties: the greasy food, smoky pubs, grim housing, and the limited work and home lives many led. Rumbling in the background is the mounting alarm about nuclear weapons, and the growth of activist movements campaigning against them. Celia Duchesne is a smart, ambitious and gutsy heroine, who follows her moral conscience while unravelling a devastating family secret. I was hooked from first to last page." The Fair Folk (2024)Su Bristow"It's a story about the tensions of life in a tiny fishing community, about bullying and violence as well as the healing magic of nature. It's written smoothly and skillfully with not a word too many or too few." The Woman at the Wheel (2023)Penny Haw"This is fine historical writing, transporting us back to another era while telling a compelling adventure story about characters we feel we know. A triumph!" The Emerald Necklace (2023)Linda Rosen"An engaging story of women's friendships across the generations, and the comfort and support they offer each other." Strangers in the Night (2023)Heather Webb"Heather Webb gets under the skin of two of the brightest stars showbiz ever produced, and takes us inside their tempestuous, compulsive, alcohol-fueled love story. Crackling with sexual tension, and full of insight about the pressures of mega-stardom, this is a spicy and addictive page-turner." An Indiscrete Princess (2022)Georgie Blalock"Princess Louise was a woman out of her time: a creative freethinker with a strong will and a passion for living, who was raised in the restrictive environment of her mother, Queen Victoria's court. In Georgie Blalock's novel Louise steps out of history and into our hearts as she struggles to hew a fulfilling role for herself. It's a fascinating glimpse into the pressures of being royal in an era when princesses had few choices, and a portrait of a very likeable, relatable woman who lived 150 years ago yet feels incredibly modern." Madwoman (2022)Louisa Treger"Louisa Treger takes us deep inside the mind of an extraordinary woman, whose ambition to succeed in a male world leads her to the very brink of madness. It's a moving, absorbing, and beautifully written story, and a terrifying portrait of the fate many women suffered in the late nineteenth century. A must read!" Nothing Else (2022)Louise Beech"A story of childhood trauma, survival, the fragility of memory, and of love that survives decades - I loved it." The Paris Bookseller (2022)Kerri Maher"The Paris Bookseller is a compelling portrait of a remarkable woman, who steps from the pages in all her charm, courage and vulnerability. It's also a colourful snapshot of literary Paris in the 1920s, with its glamour and gossip, ogres and egos. Meticulously researched yet above all a page-turning story, this is historical fiction at its best." The Prince of the Skies (2021)Antonio Iturbe"I adored the character of Antoine, a man who is ingenious when flying a plane and an idiot when it comes to love. The descriptions of the life-and-death scrapes he and his aviator colleagues get into are gripping, and there’s a vivid sense of the sheer thrill of flying. It’s spellbinding!" The Rose Garden (2021)Tracy Rees"Tracy Rees has a rare gift for creating characters you are rooting for from the first page. The writing is fresh and engaging, with a gentle humour...the research is meticulous, and the women’s stories are told with immense compassion. This is a novel that immerses you in its world as if by magic, and keeps you enthralled till the very end." The Bookseller's Secret (2021)Michelle Gable"A captivating story about the inimitable Nancy Mitford. Michelle Gable has a gift for describing complex, charming characters, and her Nancy steps out of the pages in all her witty, irreverent glory. This is an engrossing page-turner about books and war, and finding love in unexpected places." Across the Winding River (2020)Aimie K Runyan"I was quickly captivated by the three narratives in this cleverly constructed novel: the poignancy of an old man in a care home looking back on his life and the child he never knew; the instinctive goodness of a young dentist treating horrific wounds behind the WWII front line; and the strength and courage of two German sisters secretly opposed to Nazi rule…A compelling story that’s about survival and loss, and most of all about love—between father and daughter, man and woman. This is historical fiction with a big heart." Nurse Kitty's Secret War (2020)(Nurse Kitty, book 1)Maggie Campbell"A galloping read that conjures up life in a late 1940s hospital, complete with fierce matrons and handsome doctors. Nurse Kitty is a feisty heroine who sticks her neck out to protect her patients, while trying to resolve her own family problems and heal her broken heart. It's engaging and atmospheric." The Queen's Secret (2020)Karen Harper"If you thought the Queen Mum was a benign, plump, cheery old lady, think again. In Karen Harper’s novel she is tough, determined, and fabulously gossipy. Reading this novel is like sitting next to an indiscreet royal insider at a private dinner." She Came to Stay (2020)Eleni Kyriacou"A gripping, evocative story of the dangers facing a young Cypriot girl in 1950s Soho. Even breathing the air is a risk as the great smog descends. The descriptions of the louche world of cafés and strip clubs are well researched and utterly convincing. It's a real gem of a book." And They Called It Camelot (2020)Stephanie Marie Thornton"Her Jackie steps out of the pages a convincing, three-dimensional character, complete with contradictions and self-doubt. It's like reading her private diary - witty, warm and full of color. The shining heart of the novel is her love for (and frustration with) Jack, who is described as a golden figure, so sexy any of us would swoon at his feet. Their attraction is tangible and sizzling hot. All the way through, Stephanie's writing is vivid, with lots of memorable images (like those lemon-lipped Rah-Rah Sisters!). I'm going to have to go back and read it all again in a few weeks." Meet Me in Monaco (2019)Hazel Gaynor and
Heather Webb"A glorious, glamorous summer read! ...The evocation of the 1956 wedding of the year is so sumptuous you feel you are there amongst the glitterati, sipping fine champagne and inhaling the scent of Coeur de Princesse." Anthologies containing stories by Gill Paul
Visitors also looked at these authors
About Fantastic Fiction Information for Authors
