Amanda Geard – Evocative Timeslips

The Joys of Binge Reading

Amanda Geard has proven herself a master of evocative, triple timeline mysteries, linking generations across the abandoned clues of family history. A faded photograph.... An abandoned house. And a wartime mystery that might have remained buried forever. Hi, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and on the Binge Reading show this week, Amanda talks about her latest book, The Moon Gate, telling a story that reaches from wartime Britain to Tasmania and back to Ireland. And she shares the timeline story that first captivated, her imagination, and inspired her to swap jobs. from being a geologist in the world's far off corners, to a fictional author who's immediately attracted positive reviews. This week's Giveaway Our Giveaway this week is Fall Romance Freebies for the month of September, including Sadie's Vow Book #1 in my latest trilogy Home At Last. You've got a library full of great romances here on offer, and you can select however many you like and Download For Free. And remember if you enjoy the show. leave us a review, so others will find us too. Word of mouth is still the best way for others to discover the show and great books they will love to read. DOWNLOAD FREE ROMANCE Things discussed in this episode Listowel Writer's Week: https://writersweek.ie/ What Amanda is reading: Louise Fein: People Like Us: https://www.louisefein.com/people-like-us The Echoes of Love Jenny Ashcroft: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-echoes-of-love-jenny-ashcroft I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31122.I_Capture_the_Castle Where To Find Amanda Online Website: www.amandageard.com Instagram and X: @AmandaGeard Introducing author Amanda Geard Jenny Wheeler: But now, here’s Amanda. Hello there, Amanda, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Amanda Geard: Hi, Jenny. Thanks so much for having me. Jenny Wheeler: Amanda, The Moon Gate, which is your second historical timeline mystery refers to a particularly striking architectural feature in an old house in Ireland. It has both symbolic and real significance to the story. Tell us about The Moon Gate. Amanda Geard: Thanks, Jenny. Yes. Gosh, I love moon gates. They're these wonderful follies that are often found in Chinese gardens. But the idea was of course pinched and went around the world with the British Empire, and so you see them in a lot of old British gardens. And they're a circular structure, mostly often made of stone or brick, but timber as well, or willow wicks, but the idea is that they separate one part of the garden from another, but they rise up out of the earth. And, the mentality is that to walk through one is to be reborn. I really wanted to put one of these in what became called The Moon Gate because one of my protagonists, Grace, who's a young woman who leaves Grosvenor Square in London just before the outbreak of World War Two. She travels to Tasmania, where I'm from originally, and she sheds her skin there. And actually the Moon Gate is in the house there at, at the back of the house there in Tasmania, between the small garden around the house and this wild rainforest. She captures her own wilderness, I think. It was just this lovely lovely symbol I wanted to weave in. Organising a Moon Gate Tour? There's a thought! Jenny Wheeler: And are there any actual moon gates in Tasmania? Amanda Geard: Oh, I think there are some in some private gardens. And then here in Ireland, I really want to do a moon gate tour. And I've been collecting a very short list of moon gates, but some people in the UK who've read the book have sent me pictures of moon gates in their nearby big houses, or a lot of people have them in their gardens now as well. They've built them from all kinds of things. I love the ones where people have taken rounds of logs and built them up into an archway that's round and then grown ivy up it.