The Lantern is lit

So where does all that determination to write get you? With a finished manuscript and months of waiting and hoping, followed by the gradual fading of optimism into resignation? Believe me, I’ve been there. Perhaps I’ll tell you, another time. But just sometimes – unexpectedly, incredibly – events move faster and more positively than you ever dared hope.

I didn’t intend to write anything that sat nearly as appositely with the previous post, but a parcel arrived from HarperCollins in New York this week. Inside was a gift-wrapped book: the US Advance Reader’s Editon of The Lantern. Suddenly, it was the moment you sometimes think will never come, even as an experienced author, thoughout all the long months and years of writing and rewriting and editing, then waiting for a verdict from agent and publisher.

But come it has, and with it a special sea-green package encasing a book with a shimmering cover. The front image shows a gate such as Hitchcock might have filmed and its peacock sheen makes an unearthly light against the dark background, which my photography doesn't do justice.



This is an early edition. The cover may or may not be changed before publication at the end of August, and the UK edition will be quite different. But the excitement starts here, and it is very exciting, not least because this is the first time one of my novels is being published in the USA.

And there’s icing on the cake – not just a scraping, but a huge drift of lovely topping, far more than I ever dreamed. I’m completely amazed and delighted beyond words that these very fine and very generous writers, New York Times bestselling authors all, have read The Lantern and sent these endorsements:

“I absolutely adored this beautifully written, modern Gothic novel, set in Provence, full of scents, colors and mystery. It will hook you in from the start and weave its dark, lush magic around you.”

—Tatiana de Rosnay, author of Sarah's Key and A Secret Kept

“With The Lantern, Deborah Lawrenson delivers a feast of sights, sounds and smells that grow and change and linger, like a wonderfully complex perfume.  I was captivated by this marvelous, haunting book—at times vivid and lush, at times provocative and chilling.”

—Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

“The Lantern is a seductive mixture of a Gothic ghost story and a modern romance that unfolds in a marvelous, crumbling Provencal farmhouse. If the story doesn't keep you up all night reading, the sharp and beautiful descriptions of the South of France will.  Deborah Lawrenson has written an alluring, dark novel that will haunt you and leave you wanting more.”

 —Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology