SUZANNE LEAL

NEW BOOK RELEASE

Dear Friends,

I’m delighted that my new novel, The Deceptions, has been released and is now out in the world. This is a launch with a twist: the book signing will have to wait until we can once more meet face to face. In the meantime, you can enjoy the book itself!

Thank you so much for all your support and good wishes for my new novel, The Deceptions, which is released into this brave new world. Heartening has been the contact I have had with so many of you over the past few weeks.

My new project, a book club – Thursday Book Club with Suzanne Leal – goes live this week. If you can, please join me at 8pm on Thursday for half an hour of lively book talk. Anyone reading my new novel The Deceptions can sign up. Don’t worry if you haven’t finished the book yet – I promise not to spoil any secrets.

On Thursday, I’ll chat a bit about The Deceptions, let you know what I’ve been reading – and get your recommendations – then I’ll answer all your questions.

If you would like to JOIN, sign up for my newsletters here to learn more about my virtual book club. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Email me in advance at suzanne@suzanneleal.com with your book recommendations and anything else you’d like to ask me.

Thank you for your good wishes in what has been an eventful week of online activity for me.

Last Thursday, I launched my novel The Deceptions on Facebook Live. It was great to have so many of you there with me online. Here’s a link for those who haven’t yet seen it and would like to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/234981950170541/videos/649206522524935/

MORE UPDATES

Elsewhere in the literary community, there’s been a lot happening. Last weekend saw Newcastle Writers Festival go online under the banner #NWFStoriesToYou. It was a bittersweet time. Before Covid-19 came to Australia, I’d been so excited to be part of the festival in Newcastle and to catch up with writers I hadn’t seen for ages. Instead, thanks to Zoom, I was a guest of the festival without leaving home, appearing at the session War Wounds with Favel Parrett, and facilitated by Meredith Jaffe. It was a terrific session, which you can watch here: https://www.newcastlewritersfestival.org.au/session/war-wounds/

Many congratulations to artistic director, Rosemarie Milsom, who somehow managed to put the online festival together.

Caro Llewellyn is the former artistic director of Sydney Writers’ Festival and the PEN World Voices festival in New York and this week, she launched Together-Remotely, a global virtual book club on which she will interview authors from around the world. To my delight, she has invited me to be her guest on 15 April. You can find out more details here: https://www.together-remotely.com/sessions/the-deceptionsnbsp-suzanne-leal-in-conversation-with-caro

If you would like to stay in touch, sign up for my newsletters here to learn more about my virtual book club. I look forward to seeing you online!

Take care,

Suzanne

Moving from wartime Europe to modern day Australia and inspired by a true story of betrayal, it’s the story of a young Jewish woman sent to the ghetto of Theresienstadt and the Czech guard she hopes will protect her. A tale of hope and resilience during tumultuous times, I hope it will speak to its readers as the world faces a new uncertainty.

Photo: Georgia Dunn.

ABOUT SUZANNE

Suzanne is the author of novels The Deceptions, The Teacher’s Secret and Border Street. A regular presenter at literary events and festivals, she was the senior judge for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards from 2017 to 2019 and is a board member of Sydney Crime Writers Festival. Also a lawyer experienced in child protection, criminal law and refugee law, Suzanne is a senior member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal and former member of the Refugee Review Tribunal. She is a fluent French and German speaker.

Curiosity about hidden stories and secret lives drives Suzanne’s writing. Moving from wartime Europe to contemporary Sydney, secrets and betrayal are at the heart of Suzanne’s most recent novel, The Deceptions, which tells the story of a woman kept captive in a Jewish ghetto and the Czech soldier who becomes her prison guard.

A fascination for the intrigues of the schoolyard inspired Suzanne’s second novel, The Teacher’s Secret, which follows the joys and tribulations of the beachside village of Brindle and the local school at the centre of this close-knit community.

Curiosity also sparked Suzanne’s interest in the lives of her Czech neighbours, Fred and Eva Perger, whose wartime story forms the basis for her first novel, Border Street.

Suzanne lives in Sydney with her husband, David, her four children, Alex, Dominic, Xavier and Miranda and their Japanese Spitz, Milly.

Photo: Kelly Barlow.

HELPFUL LINKS FOR THE BOOK:

Do you want to shop locally and support small businesses?
Most book stores are offering deliveries and Booktopia is selling The Deceptions for $23.75 here.