Co. Armagh classroom assistant and author, Suzie Hull, is a contender for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s (RNA) annual Joan Hessayon Award for 2022 with her novel, In This Foreign Land. The award is for authors whose debut novels have gone through the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme and are subsequently accepted for publication.

Suzie lives in Northern Ireland with her family and numerous rescue cats. She originally dreamt of being a ballet dancer, but instead trained as a Montessori nursery teacher and has spent the last thirty years working with children.
As a classroom assistant at her local primary school, she fits her writing in at the weekend and during school holidays. She has always had an enduring passion for history and books, and since she came from a long line of creative women it was only a matter of time before she turned to writing her own.

She commented, ‘I’m absolutely delighted to be a contender for this prestigious award. The Joan Hessayon award showcases the best in new romantic fiction each year from authors who have graduated from the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme. It has been a long held dream of mine to be published and gaining a highly respected publisher in Orion Dash has been amazing. I have worked so hard over the past few years to get this far and whether I win or not, just being a contender means I am on my way to a career as an author. In This Foreign Land is a page turning and heartbreaking love story set in Cairo and London on the eve of World War One and will appeal to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.’

ABOUT THE BOOK
(Publisher: Orion Dash)
Spring 1914: Isobel Harris travels to Cairo where she falls in love with an old friend, Edward Dunwoody. They have a brief few weeks of happiness together before war is declared and they are separated. When the unthinkable happens, Isobel must make an impossible decision in this heartbreaking WW1 romance.

SUZIE HULL’S MEDIA DETAILS:
Twitter: @SuzieHull1
Instagram: @suziehull1