SEELIE KAY: Postcards from The Ledge: This week in The Loft: Australian author Jan Selbourne!

Joining me today in The Loft is Jan Selbourne. Jan writes historical romance, as well as historical fiction. She discovered a love for literature and history while growing up in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating from business college, Jan entered the dusty world of ledgers and accounting, working in Victoria, Queensland and the United Kingdom. Eventually she went to work for a large New South Wales historical society. Now retired, Jan writes full-time. She has two adult children, a lovable dog, and lives near Maitland, New South Wales.

Author Jan Selbourne

S: Good evening Jan. Thanks for joining me for a chat.

Why write romance?

J: It’s an escape, hope, a voice. I’m sure authors enjoy guiding their characters through adversity, loss, and despair to a happy ending as much as our readers.

S: Providing a happy ending is always satisfying. You also write historical fiction. What attracts you to that?

J: History is my favorite because every era is unique and full of colorful people who made their mark. Caesar and Cleopatra, Robin Hood, Henry VIII and his six wives, Mozart, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, Hitler, regrettably--all good fodder for a book. I recently joined forces with my author friend Anne Krist to write Christmas novellas set in the Vietnam war era, bringing me into the 20th century.

S: What is the best thing that has ever happened to you as a writer?

J: Meeting authors from around the world and receiving wonderful book reviews has been incredibly rewarding, but the best ever was The Coffee Pot Book Club Book of the Year Award, Silver Medal, for my historical novel, "Lies of Gold."

S: If you had to do it all over again would you still choose to write books?

J: Yes definitely. Writing a book is a joy and very satisfying.

S: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

J: If something in our life isn’t right, such as a bad relationship, a rotten job, unjust treatment, we have two choices. We can leave, take another direction even though it might be tough for a while. Or we can stay. If we stay, we can't complain because it was our choice.

S: Wise advice. You are in charge of your own destiny. What inspired "Perilous Love?"

J: Reading an article on how a person’s true character emerges when faced with life threatening danger or extreme stress. The chest puffing he-man might turn to water and run. The shy insignificant person finds inner strength to face adversity head on. I was working on my family tree and had just read my grandfather’s military service records of his time in France and Belgium during World War One. The bloodshed and appalling atrocities affected him deeply and it was years before he could talk about it. His anecdotes to my mother and that article inspired "Perilous Love."

S: How fascinating to have access to such a personal account of World War One. Is there anything special you would like people to know about "Perilous Love?"

J: The story is fiction but what my characters witnessed and endured in Belgium is based on fact.

Here’s the blurb--

As the world rushes towards a war, the British government orders wealthy businessman, Adrian Bryce to leave his mistress and accompany his estranged wife, Gabrielle, to Belgium. They require proof Gabrielle’s uncle is supporting the German Empire. Adrian discovers secrets which plunge him and Gabrielle into a nightmare of betrayal. Forced to run for their lives as Germany invades, they must trust each other through danger, brutality, and injury.

Gabrielle enjoys her role of mother of their two children. Wanting only to be with her lover, and now fearful of exposure, she readies herself and her children for a difficult trip. With no way out, Gabrielle knows the visit with her aristocratic traditional family will be a trial, and Europe is on edge. She had no idea of the horrors ahead of them.

Will Adrian and Gabrielle reach safety? If they do, are they out of danger or will the intrigue and treason follow them back to England?