It began when I was very young: the desire to escape into a story world. On the
laps of my father and mother I travelled to so many exciting and inspiring
places, from Sherwood Forest to the rolling ocean waves alongside Sinbad the
Sailor. Soon, my thirst for fictional adventure was insatiable, and my governess
hatched a new plan: for each fairy tale Zula told me, I must invent and relate
one of my own. The idea that not only could I escape into stories, but I could
be the creator of the story world… it was transformative, and a writer
was born.
By my teens I was writing furiously, by then in the romance genre, inspired by
the Hollywood films and telenovelas I loved. My stories made me popular with my
classmates, among whom I circulated my writings, but much less so with the nuns
who taught me at my convent school! Still, I have them to thank for my rigorous
and structured education in English: they were very strict about instilling in
their charges a love of literature and an understanding of how to create a vivid
scene.
Add to that foundation a bachelor’s degree, as a young woman, in French
literature at the University of Alexandria, studying such great classic writers
as Victor Hugo and Gustave Flaubert and Honoré de Balzac and Stendhal, and you
can see how I came to be an author who is serious about style.
For me, fiction is all about transporting the reader to another time and place.
Why else read romance? I would argue; stark and gritty in-the-now
realism is seldom romantic, after all. So far, my novels have taken readers to
1970s Kenya, turn of the millennium Italy (Venice and Tuscany), and the region
of Andalucía, Spain, in the 1950s, 1970s and present day. I see it as my job as
an author to really draw the reader into these times and places; to take them
from their garden bench or armchair or seat on the commuter train to a sisal
plantation in Kenya, to the Bridge of Sighs in Venice, to the royal Alcazar
palace in Seville, and to a vibrant, noisy, colourful and passionate flamenco
party in Andalucía.
Before writing, I always ensure I can conjure the scene vividly in my own mind,
based on my memories of travels to the location and the research I carry out
before I begin a novel: movies, music, biographies, histories, art galleries,
museums and so on. Then, like an artist approaching a canvas armed with a
palette of colours, I paint the scene, as in this excerpt from my novel INDISCRETION:
She stared out of the window at the countryside as the train climbed up and
up across Spain towards Cadiz. Fascinated, she lost herself in her new
surroundings as they slipped by.
They were running over gently undulating ground, which rose and sank in
larger billows. The yellow Guadalquivir followed the train all the way, through
a valley that sometimes widened to the Sierras, blue mountains that walled the
horizon, their bare sharp peaks and rainbow-coloured spears of rock – yellow,
orange and crimson – stabbing the air. In the distance, Alexandra could see
towns, very white, beyond the wheatlands and olive orchards that divided the
landscape. One of these towns nestled brightly at the base of a hill, topped by
a Moorish castle, golden against the blue sky.
They passed wide expanses of pasturage, where lordly bulls were being
hoarded in anticipation of the season of corridas and ferias. From time to time
they passed primitive, winding mule tracks that led up high to a village.
The wildness, the hills, the beautiful images her romantic brain made out of
the barren jagged cliffs? – the pure foreignness of the place – caught Alexandra
by the throat.
All of my fiction is rich in description, and within that description you will
often find appeals to the five senses by which people experience a place, so
that the reader can in turns see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Here is an
example from my novel MASQUERADE:
Luz seated herself at the kitchen table and started to tuck into the
appetizing doughnuts that Carmela had prepared, while the latter hovered
attentively round her, chattering merrily, dashing in and out of the room as she
went about her chores.
‘Mmm … delicious,’ said Luz, biting gingerly into the little golden cakes
and taking a mouthful of the thick chocolate.
Rays of sunshine poured into the room. The open window afforded a magical
view of the garden. Olive trees coexisted cheerfully with orange, lemon and fig
trees, as well as oleander, hibiscus, grapevines and a sprinkling of cactus and
palms. Beyond this eclectic world fashioned by man and nature she could see
gulls in the distance, in a huge arc of sky, their white wings flashing in the
sunlight as they swooped over the phosphorescent ocean. Their far-off cries
filled the air, punctuated with the chirruping sound of nearby cicadas. She let
out a small sigh of pleasure. This was bliss.
In this way, writing is ultimately a means of escape, for both the writer and
the reader – a way to break down walls and transcend the ordinary. As one of my
favourite writers, Anaïs Nin, put it: ‘Reality doesn’t impress me. I only
believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I
escape, one way or another. No more walls.
GIVEAWAY
Do you find reading a way to escape? Tell us below and you could be the
winner of THE ECHOES OF
LOVE, INDISCRETION
and MASQUERADE.
Hannah Fielding is an award-winning romance author, who grew up in
Alexandria, Egypt, the granddaughter of Esther Fanous, a revolutionary feminist
and writer in Egypt during the early 1900s. After graduating she developed a
passion for travel, living in Switzerland, France and England. After marrying
her English husband, she had little time for writing while bringing up two
children, looking after dogs and horses, and running her own business renovating
rundown cottages. Hannah now divides her time between her homes in England and
the South of France.
She has written four novels, all featuring exotic locations and vivid
descriptions: INDISCRETION and MASQUERADE (the first two
titles in the Andalucían
Nights Trilogy set in Spain); BURNING EMBERS (set in
Africa); and THE ECHOES OF
LOVE (set in Italy). Hannah’s books have won many awards, including Gold
Medal for romance at the Independent Publisher Book Awards and Silver Medal for
romance at the Foreword Reviews IndieFab Book Awards (The Echoes of Love), and
Gold and Silver Medals for romance at the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards
(Indiscretion and Masquerade). Indiscretion has also won Best Romance at the USA
Best Book Awards.
Andalucían Nights
Trilogy #2
Love, mystery, desire under the scorching Spanish sun
Summer, 1976. Luz de Rueda returns to her beloved Spain and takes a job as
the biographer of a famous artist. On her first day back in Cádiz, she
encounters a bewitching, passionate young gypsy, Leandro, who immediately
captures her heart, even though relationships with his kind are taboo.
Haunted by this forbidden love, she meets her new employer, the sophisticated
Andrés de Calderón. Reserved yet darkly compelling, he is totally different to
Leandro – but almost the gypsy’s double.
Both men stir exciting and unfamiliar feelings in Luz, although mystery and
danger surround them in ways she has still to discover. Luz must decide what she
truly desires as glistening Cádiz, with its enigmatic moon and whispering
turquoise shores, seeps back into her blood. Why is she so drawn to the wild and
magical sea gypsies? What is behind the old fortune-teller’s sinister warnings
about ‘Gemini’? Through this maze of secrets and lies, will Luz finally find her
happiness … or her ruin?
Romance Historical
[London House Press, On Sale: August 1, 2015,
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780992994365 / eISBN: 9780992994372]
Andalucían Nights
Trilogy #1
A young woman’s journey of discovery takes her to a world of
forbidden passion, savage beauty – and revenge.
Spring, 1950. Alexandra de Falla, a half-English, half-Spanish young writer
abandons her privileged but suffocating life in London and travels to Spain to
be reunited with her long-estranged family.
Instead of providing the sense of belonging she yearns for, the de Fallas are
riven by seething emotions, and in the grip of the wild customs and traditions
of Andalucía, all of which are alien to Alexandra.
Among the strange characters and sultry heat of this country, she meets the
man who awakens emotions she hardly knew existed. But their path is strewn with
obstacles: dangerous rivals, unpredictable events, and inevitable indiscretions.
What does Alexandra’s destiny hold for her in this flamboyant land of drama and
all-consuming passions, where blood is ritually poured on to the sands of
sun-drenched bullfighting arenas, mysterious gypsies are embroiled in magic and
revenge, and beautiful dark-eyed dancers hide their secrets behind elegant lacy
fans?
Indiscretion is a story of love and identity, and the clash
of ideals in the pursuit of happiness. But can love survive in a world where
scandal and danger are never far away?
Romance Historical
[London Wall Publishing, On Sale: April 9, 2015,
Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780992671877 / eISBN: 9780992671891]
Hannah, I've not read anything by you but I'm looking forward to your tale of Gypsies. I'm from the Sherwood Forest area originally and spent many happy days there as a child.
Sally.
(Sally Lincoln 4:42pm August 12, 2016)
I find that reading helps reduce my stress and takes me away for just a little while. Thanks for a chance to win.
(Connie Sahn 5:28pm August 13, 2016)
Yes, I've always felt reading is the perfect escape from anything. Ever since I was little, I always found solace in being transported somewhere else through reading.
(Nancy Marcho 6:13pm August 14, 2016)
I read to escape and also to learn. I look for authors who research their topics
and locales well. I want to see the area accurately through the character's
eyes. I want to taste the food, feel the warmth of the sun, the chill of the
night, smell the flowers and hear the night insects buzzing. When I read a
book and recognize places I have been or experiences I have shared, I know
the author has put the effort into research and travel to assure the accuracy of
their work. I for one really appreciate it.
(Patricia Barraclough 8:31pm August 14, 2016)
Yes , reading is an escape for me also . I 'get into ' most books that I read , they take me places that I would not go without them . Thanks for this chance to win your books.
(Joan Thrasher 10:54am August 15, 2016)
Reading is my favorite escape. You can go anywhere and do anything through a good novel.
(Kerry Shaw 2:44pm August 15, 2016)
Yes, definitely, since I can lose myself in another world that is far more fascinating than the one I live in. Sigh, expectations vs. reality.
(Lisa L. 11:03pm August 15, 2016)
Reading is always an escape for me. It's wonderful and relaxing. Look a good book and have added this one to my TBR list.
(Bonnie Capuano 8:07am August 19, 2016)
Reading takes me away from my daily problems. It can transport me to a different place or time where I don't have problems.
(Donna Graham 11:02am August 19, 2016)
Reading takes me into another place and time and is a good way to relax after a day at work.
(Anna Speed 12:45pm August 19, 2016)
Reading is an excellent way to escape everyday reality and to enjoy fantastic new adventures.
(Bonnie H 11:24am August 23, 2016)
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