| News from Applecross The latest update from Amanda Giorgis, best-selling author of the Applecross Saga – January 2022. |
| Happy New Year to you all. May 2022 be a year where the world recovers and moves towards normality once more. It has been a busy January at Applecross HQ already, the hot weather a good excuse to stay indoors and get on with writing and editing Book 5, ‘Mixed Blessings’. In the cool of the evening, I like nothing better than to wander the garden looking for small changes. The bud that has become a flower or the fruit that has grown in size since yesterday. It is surprising what can alter in only one day. Sad news on the chicken front. We lost Foggy, the randy old rooster to a heart attack. I will not go into detail, but let’s say he died doing what he loved most in life – not a bad way to go! His harem didn’t waste time on grieving, they were establishing a new pecking order with Henry, the other rooster almost immediately. |
 |
| We’ve not been far from home over the summer break, but we do have a short break planned for early February, heading for Mount Cook. Do you think we may see James and Sophia as we drive across the Mackenzie? More on that next month. Bird of the month I’m going for the obvious one here – this month’s bird is our famous kiwi. It is not a bird one generally comes across unless you are tramping the wild places of New Zealand, but on Rakiura, Stewart Island, right down at the southern tip of the country, there are a lot more kiwis than residents. In one of those ‘Only in New Zealand’ moments, we all laughed at this New Year’s report submitted by the only full-time policeman on the island – https://www.police.govt.nz/news/ten-one-magazine/raucous-night-rakiura Now the smart readers amongst you will realise that the photo below is not a kiwi. In fact, it is the same photo as last month, the teeny, tiny titipounamu. I’ve left it in place to celebrate the Hinewai nature reserve where we saw this wee floofball last month. One male chick fledged, according to the humans who provided the nest site. We all hope he stayed safe in the terrible storm which hit the Banks Peninsula a few weeks ago. Goodness, what a storm it was, washing hillsides away and re-routing rivers. Our friends lost much of their garden, including tunnel houses and plants, but fortunately the raging water didn’t quite reach their house. |
 |
| Book News If you are looking for something to read during January, you may find a bargain here – Free Historical Fiction for the New Year I am really excited to tell you that Book 5, ‘Mixed Blessings’ is complete. Editing and formatting has begun and publication date is set for 1st April 2022. To give you a taste of it, here is the synopsis ;- The girls are growing up. Not for them the daily grind of family life, not yet anyway. After all, it is 1873. Women have more opportunities than ever before, especially in New Zealand in an era of great prosperity and progress. Five years have passed since we last visited the Mackenzies. Applecross sheep station is thriving, more people than ever have made it their home. There are changes everywhere, big and small, but James and Sophia remain the solid, dependable mainstay of life in the rural community. Until a dramatic incident rocks the very foundations of Mackenzie’s Basin. We join Heather, Caroline and Adey Rose, daughters of the Basin, as they blossom into young ladies, find their feet in the burgeoning city of Christchurch and take their first hesitant steps into the world of romance. However, the draw of Applecross is strong…….. |
 |
| Mixed Blessings is already available as a pre-order ebook on Amazon, and will appear on other platforms over the next week or so. More news next month. Pre-order ‘Mixed Blessings’ here I have a limited number of ARC spaces available for Book 5. If you would like to get ahead of the pack and read a draft ebook copy, then please go to Mixed Blessings ARC. All I ask in return is an honest review on your chosen platform. |
Amanda Giorgis
Author of the Applecross Saga
January 2022 Newsletter
Get a free ebook
