“The past is a foreign country - they do things differently there.” So writes L.P Hartley on in the first line of his novel, The Go-Between. This is possibly one of the best opening lines in all fiction.  It says so much about the novel that is about to unfold and also about the nature of historical fiction. In fact, it pretty much sums up the genre and why it has such enduring appeal.

We have just launched a new e-edition of my novel the The Daughters of Blane, which you can buy from www.harrietsmart.com or here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/16334 One of the questions novelists are always asked is where the idea for a particular story came from. In the case of this novel, it was from a place and a painting.

Recently I was lucky enough to be asked for an interview by Joanna Penn of www.thecreativepenn.com about Writer's Cafe and various other writing topics.

see: http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/06/02/podcast-using-writing-software... for the podcast.

When on March 1742, the fashionable elite of Dublin turned to the equivalent of the What’s On pages in the Dublin journal, they would have read an advance notice for “Mr Handel’s new Grand Oratorio, call’d the MESSIAH.” The tickets were half a guinea, (around £45 in modern money) in aid of various local charities and ladies were requested to come to the first night “without Hoops, as it will greatly encrease the Charity by making room for more company.”

I haven't seen it yet, but I  will know it when I see it. And then I will buy one. 

via fleetwood-walker.co.uk Although they're very stylised, I thing there is a great sense of individual character.

Dr FictionWitch has just rejigged my other website, www.harrietsmart.com, and there you can find some articles about writing and lots of information about my novels. You can also buy an ebook of a never before published Harriet Smart story, Reckless Griselda.