{{Short description|English author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}} {{Use British English|date=October 2021}} {{Infobox writer | name = Hazel Gaynor | image = | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1971|5|16|df=y}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/fiction/9619-girl-who-came-home-gaynor?start=1|title=Girl Who Came Home (Gaynor): Author Bio|website=Lit Lovers|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> | birth_place = Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire, England | children = 2 | alma_mater = Manchester Metropolitan University | occupation = Writer | period = | genre = Historical fiction, fantasy, romance | subject = <!-- designed for nonfiction --> | movement = | awards = {{Plainlist| * Romantic Novelists' Association Award * STAR Award }} | signature = | website = {{URL|https://www.hazelgaynor.com/}} | notableworks = }}
'''Hazel Gaynor''' (born 16 May 1971) is an English author of historical fiction and fantasy based in Ireland.
==Early and personal life== Gaynor is from Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hazelgaynor.com/news/launches-readings-and-signings/|title=Launches, readings and signings|website=Hazel Gaynor|date=10 March 2021|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> She graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Manchester Metropolitan University. She and her sister lost their mother in 1995.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-girl-who-dared-author-hazel-gaynor-on-journey-from-rejection-to-bestseller-31168917.html|title=The girl who dared... author Hazel Gaynor on journey from rejection to bestseller|journal=Independent.ie|first=Emily|last=Hourican|date=24 April 2015|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> Gaynor lived in Manchester, Australia, and London in the 1990s. She moved to Ireland in 2001 after meeting her now husband through a mutual friend in Dublin. They settled in Kilcullen, County Kildare in 2004 where they have raised their two sons.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://thegloss.ie/writers-block-with-hazel-gaynor/|title=Writer's Block with Hazel Gaynor|journal=The Gloss|first=Sophie|last=Grenham|date=23 November 2018|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.leinsterleader.ie/news/home/279237/my-kildare-life-with-kilcullen-author-hazel-gaynor.html|title=My Kildare Life with Kilcullen Author Hazel Gaynor|journal=Leinster Leader|first=Sarah|last=Peppard|date=5 November 2017|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
==Career== Gaynor began her career in professional services. After she was laid off from her job as a learning and development executive at the Irish law firm A&L Goodbody during the Great Recession, she pursued her passion of writing. She ran a personal blog titled ''Hot Cross Mum'', which became an e-book in 2011. She contributed to and interviewed authors such as Philippa Gregory for the likes of ''Writing.ie''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mummypages.ie/book-review-hot-cross-mum-bitesize-slices-of-motherhood|title=Book Review: Hot Cross Mum: bitesize slices of motherhood|website=Mummy Pages|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
Gaynor self-published her debut fiction novel ''The Girl Who Came Home'', based on the true story of 14 Irish emigrants on the Titanic, on Kindle in 2012. She received the Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary Award at Kildare Readers' Festival that year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.writing.ie/guest-blogs/cecil-day-lewis-literary-bursary-award/|title=Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary Award|website=Writing.ie|date=15 October 2012|first=Hazel|last=Gaynor|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> In 2013, she landed her first publishing deal with HarperCollins under the William Morrow imprint, who re-published the novel in print in 2014. It became a ''New York Times'' and ''USA Today'' bestseller and was named the Romantic Novelists' Association Historical Novel of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-girl-who-came-home-hazel-gaynor?variant=32207233220642|title=The Girl Who Came Home|website=HarperCollins|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> She signed with a New York agent.
Her second novel ''A Memory of Violets'', originally titled ''Daughters of the Flowers'', was published in February 2015. The character of Albert Shaw is based on John Groom.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/a-memory-of-violets-by-hazel-gaynor-brings-victorian-philanthropy-to-life/|title=A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor Brings Victorian Philanthropy to Life|website=Historical Novel Society|first=Jane|last=Steen|date=19 November 2014 |accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> It appeared in WHSmith's spring selection.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://booksparks.com/portfolio/hazel-gaynor/|title=Hazel Gaynor|website=Booksparks|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
This was followed by ''The Girl from the Savoy'' on London's interwar period in June 2016, a ''Globe and Mail'' and ''Irish Times'' best seller shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishbookawards.irish/nominee/the-girl-from-the-savoy/|title=The Girl from the Savoy|website=Irish Book Awards|accessdate=2 October 2021|archive-date=10 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510070525/https://www.irishbookawards.irish/nominee/the-girl-from-the-savoy/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In August 2017, Gaynor published her first fantasy novel ''The Cottingley Secret'', a fictionalisation of the Cottingley fairies story from 1917 Yorkshire.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4876824/cottingley-fairies-book/|title=Inside the Elaborate Hoax That Made British Society Believe in Fairies|magazine=TIME|first=Hazel|last=Gaynor|date=1 August 2017|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> Gaynor's October 2018 novel ''The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter'' was a ''USA Today'' and ''Irish Times'' bestseller. Shortlisted for a Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.writing.ie/news/hazel-gaynors-the-lighthouse-keepers-daughter-longlisted-for-2019-hwa-gold-crown/|title=Hazel Gaynor's The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter longlisted for 2019 HWA Gold Crown|website=Writing.ie|date=8 August 2019|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062403476|title=The Girl from the Savoy: A Novel|website=IndieBound.org|date=7 June 2016 |isbn=978-0-06-240347-6 |accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> the story of Grace Darling had fascinated Gaynor from a young age.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.suejleonard.com/articles/hazel-gaynor/|title=Hazel Gaynor|website=Sue Leonard|date=25 February 2019 |accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
Her 2020 book, set at a boarding school in 1941 China, was published under the name ''The Bird in the Bamboo Cave'' in August in some countries and ''When We Were Young & Brave'' elsewhere in October.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/the-bird-in-the-bamboo-cage-by-hazel-gaynor-review-c0rtwlr5z|title=The Bird in the Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor, review|journal=The Sunday Times|first=Joanne|last=O'Sullivan|date=20 September 2020|access-date=2 October 2021}}</ref>
===Collaborations=== In 2016, Gaynor wrote a short story for the collection ''Fall of Poppies''.
Gaynor has collaborated with American author Heather Webb on ''Last Christmas in Paris'' (2017), ''Meet Me in Monaco'' (2019) featuring Grace Kelly, and ''Three Words for Goodbye'' (2021) (co-written over the COVID-19 lockdown).<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nprillinois.org/podcast/front-row-network/2021-07-20/gaynor-and-webb-novel-three-words-for-goodbye-takes-readers-on-a-journey|title=Gaynor and Webb Novel, 'Three Words for Goodbye,' Takes Readers on a Journey|journal=NPR Illinois|first=Anna|last=McFarland|date=20 July 2021|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> The first won the 2018 Women's Fiction Writers Association STAR Award in the General Category.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.womensfictionwriters.org/2018-star-award-winners|title=2018 STAR Award Winners|website=Women's Fiction Writers Association STAR Award|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> The latter was one of BuzzFeed's July picks.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/farrahpenn/buzzfeed-best-books-of-july-2021|title=Here Are BuzzFeed's Picks For The Best Books Of July 2021|journal=BuzzFeed|author=Multiple|date=13 July 2021|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref> They also co-wrote ''Christmas with the Queen'', published in 2024.
Gaynor runs the Inspiration Project, which conducts workshops for aspiring writers, with Catherine Ryan Howard and Carmel Harrington.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/writeside-hazel-gaynor-39448092.html|title=WriteSide: Hazel Gaynor|journal=Independent.ie|first=Kim|last=Bielenberg|date=15 August 2021|accessdate=2 October 2021}}</ref>
==Bibliography== ===Fiction=== *''The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic'' (2012) *''A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers'' (2015) *''The Girl from the Savoy'' (2016) *''The Cottingley Secret'' (2017) *''Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I'' (2017), co-written with Heather Webb *''The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter'' (2018) *''Meet Me in Monaco'' (2019), co-written with Heather Webb *''The Bird in the Bamboo Cave'' / ''When We Were Young & Brave'' (2020) *''Three Words for Goodbye'' (2021), co-written with Heather Webb * ''The Last Lifeboat'' (2023)
===Short stories=== *"Hush" in ''Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War'' (2016)
===Nonfiction=== *''Hot Cross Mum: Bitesize Slices of Motherhood'' (2011)
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaynor, Hazel}} Category:Living people Category:1971 births Category:Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Category:English bloggers Category:English emigrants to Ireland Category:English fantasy writers Category:English historical novelists Category:English women historical novelists Category:People from Driffield Category:People from Kilcullen Category:Writers from the East Riding of Yorkshire Category:21st-century English women novelists Category:21st-century English novelists