Southern Ruby (61 page)

No matter what chaos we had to endure when we returned to New Orleans, I would stay. I had finally found the place where I belonged.

What did you think about Ruby's attempts to get herself, Maman and Mae out of financial difficulties? Do you believe her only alternative was to become a burlesque dancer, or did she have other options? Would you have made the same choice in her situation?

Burlesque striptease in the 1950s was an entertainment directed at men. But the revival of traditional burlesque led by stars such as Dita Von Teese attracts mostly female audiences.

       
•
   
What is it about burlesque dancing that might be appealing to modern women?

       
•
   
How do you feel about burlesque striptease personally – is it a celebration of female sexuality and empowerment, harmless fun or a form of repression?

Music plays a major role in both Ruby's and Amanda's stories. Have you been touched by music in a way that has changed or defined your life?

Amanda sees the world with an architect's eyes. The houses in
Southern Ruby
are richly described: Ruby's Apartment;
Amandine;
the Thezan's family home; Terence's house in the Lower Ninth Ward; Aunt Louise and Uncle Jonathan's house etc.

       
•
   
Do you agree that the houses help demonstrate the inner lives of the characters and if so in what ways?

       
•
   
The settings of Belinda Alexandra's books often focus on the symbolism of certain buildings. For example: Anya's home in Harbin (
White Gardenia
) contrasted with her new home in Sydney; the significance of the Paris Opera House to Paloma (
Golden Earrings
). Do you think the architecture and decor of your childhood home shaped your character in any way? Are there any buildings in your city that hold great emotional significance to you?

What does Estée's funeral scene represent to you? Some readers have been shocked by the graveyard scenes – how do the cultural ideas about death represented in
Southern Ruby
differ from your own?

Amanda is appalled by the racism of the USA's past – but what about the racism of the present? What do you think is the experience of black people in America today? Is it different from that of Ti-Jean and the young Leroy? Did the story make you reflect on racism in your own country or change your own views in any way?

Did anything you learned about New Orleans, the Civil Rights Movement, burlesque or Hurricane Katrina surprise you?

Do you think Ruby and Leroy could have been happy if they had eloped to San Francisco when they were young? What do your think the future holds for them now?

I
am enormously grateful to everyone who has been a part of the creation of
Southern Ruby
. Special thanks should go to my publisher at HarperCollins Australia, Mary Rennie, and editor extraordinaire, Nicola O'Shea, for their expertise and enthusiastic feedback on shaping the story and bringing the characters to life. Thank you also to the entire the team at HarperCollins Australia for their invaluable support, including publishing director Shona Martyn, CEO James Kellow, fiction publisher Anna Valdinger and the indefatigable marketing, sales, design and publicity teams. Historical novels include a lot of detail and I am grateful to the meticulous care of senior editor, Nicola Robinson, for all her hard work to make sure those details were correct and to Katie Lauve-Moon, Drew Keys, Annabel Adair and Pam Dunne for their careful readings of the proof-sheets, and to editor Scott Forbes for his help crafting the tennis scene.

I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to my literary agent, Selwa Anthony, for all her guidance and encouragement. I am deeply appreciative of my beautiful family – including the much adored four-legged members – as well as my loyal friends, for their love and support through the long hours of discipline and solitude that are involved in writing a book. I am especially indebted to my husband, Mauro. He knows why.

Finally, I would like to thank the inspiring and resilient people of New Orleans for sharing their wonderful city and their personal stories with me.

My sincere thanks to you all.

Be swept away . . . Discover the world with
Belinda Alexandra

Passion, secrets, history and intrigue from a great Australian storyteller

WHITE GARDENIA

‘Mama, Mama,' I said to myself, ‘keep safe. You will survive, and I will survive, until we can find each other again.'

In a district of the city of Harbin, a haven for White Russian families since Russia's Communist revolution, Alina Kozlova must make a heartbreaking decision if her only child, Anya, is to survive the final days of World War II.

White Gardenia
sweeps across cultures and continents, from the glamorous nightclubs of Shanghai to the harshness of Cold War Soviet Russia in the 1960s, from a desolate island in the Pacific Ocean to a new life in post-war Australia. Both mother and daughter must make sacrifices, but is the price too high? Most importantly of all, will they ever find each other again?

Rich in incident and historical detail, this is a compelling and beautifully written tale about yearning and forgiveness.

‘Depicts vividly the powerful lifelong bond between mothers and daughters' —
Paullina Simons

‘Captivating' —
Daily Telegraph

‘A passionate and powerful family saga'

— Australian Women's Weekly

WILD LAVENDER

‘Nothing is wasted, Simone. The love we give never dies.'

At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provençal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseille. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream: to one day be a famous dancer and singer.

But when war threatens, Simone makes a decision that will lead to great danger — yet ultimately prove that love, just like wild lavender, can grow in the least likely of places . . .

Belinda Alexandra has created a tale of passion and courage that moves from the backstreets of Marseille to the grand music theatres of Paris, from the countryside of Provence to decadent pre-war Berlin and jazz-age New York.

Wild Lavender
is a feast for the senses that will live on in the imagination long after the book is closed.

‘Filled with glamour, heartbreak, drama and suspense'

— The Age

‘Rich in detail, and the story fairly rattles along'

— Choice magazine

SILVER WATTLE

A dazzling novel about two exceptional sisters, set in the Australian film world of the 1920s.

In fear for their lives after the sudden death of their mother, Adéla and Klàra must flee Prague to find refuge with their uncle in Australia. There, Adéla becomes a film director at a time when the local industry is starting to feel the competition from Hollywood.

But while success is imminent, the issues of family and an impossible love are never far away. And ultimately dreams of the silver screen must compete with the bonds of a lifetime . . .

Silver Wattle
confirms Belinda Alexandra as one of our foremost storytellers. Weaving fact into inspiring fiction with great flair and imagination, this is a novel as full of hope, glamour and heartbreak as the film industry itself.

‘An absorbing story of hope and despair, loyalty and love' —
Woman's Day

‘Readers are kept on their toes . . . and it's a worthwhile wait' —
Courier-Mail

‘Keeps you involved and caring . . . an engrossing read'

— MX

TUSCAN ROSE

A tale of sacrifice and reward, of beauty and horror . . . and of redemption.

A mysterious stranger known as ‘The Wolf' leaves an infant with the sisters of Santo Spirito. A tiny silver key hidden in her wrappings is the one clue to the child's identity . . .

When Rosa turns fifteen, she must leave the nuns who have raised her to become governess to the daughter of an aristocrat and his strange, frightening wife. Their house is elegant but cursed, and Rosa — blessed with gifts beyond her considerable musical talents — is torn between her desire to know the truth and her fear of its repercussions.

Meanwhile, the hand of Fascism curls around beautiful Italy, threatening her citizens. In the face of unimaginable hardship, will Rosa's intelligence, intuition and her extraordinary capacity for love be enough to ensure her survival?

‘A wonderful story that had me reading until the early hours of the morning' —
Good Reading

‘Impeccable research into the terrible times of Mussolini's Italy makes this story of sacrifice and salvation unforgettable' —
Woman's Day

GOLDEN EARRINGS

‘You who judge me: come! Let me tell you a story . . .'

Paloma Batton is the granddaughter of Spanish refugees who fled Barcelona after the Civil War. A disciplined student with the School of the Paris Opera Ballet, Paloma lets little get in the way of her career until she receives a mysterious pair of golden earrings. She begins exploring her Spanish heritage and becomes fascinated by ‘la Rusa', a woman who rose from poverty to become one of the great flamenco dancers of modern times before committing suicide.

As Paloma begins to unravel the secrets of the past, she discovers more than one person who had good reason for wanting la Rusa dead, including Paloma's own grandmother.

Golden Earrings
is a story that moves between two great cities: Barcelona in the lead-up to the Civil War and Paris in the 1970s. It is the story of two women and the extremes to which they are willing to go for love. It is a story of great passions — and great betrayals — where nothing is quite as it seems.

‘Totally enthralling' —
Herald Sun

SAPPHIRE SKIES

A love bigger than a war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved . . . until now.

2000: The wreckage of a downed WWII fighter plane is discovered in the forests near Russia's Ukrainian border. The aircraft belonged to Natalya Azarova, ace pilot and pin-up girl for Soviet propaganda, but the question of her fate remains unanswered. Was she a German spy who faked her own death, as the Kremlin claims? Her lover, Valentin Orlov, now a highly decorated general, refuses to believe it.

Lily, a young Australian woman, has moved to Moscow to escape from tragedy. She becomes fascinated by the story of Natalya, and when she meets an elderly woman who claims to know the truth behind the rumours, Lily is drawn deeper into the mystery.

From the pomp and purges of Stalin's Russia through the horrors of war and beyond – secrets and lies, enduring love and terrible betrayal, sacrifice and redemption all combine in this sweeping saga from Belinda Alexandra.

‘Belinda Alexandra has unveiled another literary gem'

— Courier-Mail