For Immediate Release—Thursday, August 15, 2024
Toronto, ON — Ingenium Books has acquired rights to publish its first historical fiction. Escape of the Grand Duchess, by prolific author Susan Appleyard, chronicles the fascinating riches-to-rags life of the sister of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas Romanov.
“Adding historical fiction to our catalogue has long been a goal at Ingenium Books,” said publisher Boni Wagner-Stafford. “The fact that our first HF novel will be one from a talented, experienced, and award-winning author like Susan Appleyard, who has written eleven excellent novels in this genre since 2015, is something we’re very pleased about.”
“I am thrilled to have been accepted for publication by Ingenium Books,” said Appleyard. “Writing is a lonely, sometimes frustrating, sometimes rewarding profession. It’s all I ever wanted to do. I was published by a company in Toronto that gave me a three-book contract and published two before selling out to another company, so it did not end well. This newbie author was pretty devastated, but never gave up writing – just gave up trying to get published and instead I self-published.”
Appleyard describes how she first got bitten by the writing bug: “I was seventeen years-old in Leeds, England. I watched West Side Story every night after work for a full week and then wrote a poor boy/rich girl story set in New York about which I knew nothing. It was pretty bad, but I was hooked.”
Clearly, Appleyard’s writing got better. Several of her books have won awards: Brag Medallions, finalists in the MM Bennetts Award and the Wishing Shelf Award, and The Coffee Pot Book Club’s Gold Medal for Historical Fiction. “I like to call it ‘historical faction,’ as most of my books are about real people and true events,” said Appleyard.
In Escape of the Grand Duchess, readers will learn intimate details of Olga Romanov’s life, which was full of unexpected turns and adventures and ultimately brought her to Ontario, Canada.
“I’m really fascinated by the tragic end of the Romanov dynasty,” said Appleyard. And Ingenium Books is too.
Escape of the Grand Duchess will be available in spring/summer 2025.
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Boni Wagner-Stafford, publisher Ingenium Books
boni@ingeniumbooks.com
1-647-846-2611