Spotlight & Giveaway: The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Fiza Saeed McLynn to HJ!

Hi Fiza and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Midnight Carousel!

 
Thank you, it’s wonderful to be here!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

In 1914 Paris, children are going missing from an enchanting carousel. When a suspect is found guilty and guillotined for the crime, the ride is sold and ends up in Chicago, where it becomes the centrepiece of Maisie’s dazzling amusement park. Shockingly, the disappearances begin again, drawing Laurent – the detective from the original case – across the Atlantic to solve the mystery, once and for all. Against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, he and Maisie try to uncover the carousel’s dark secrets in a glittering story of grief, obsession, revenge and enduring love.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

‘‘Where you come from isn’t a place, it’s your heart.’’

‘‘Isn’t everyone different? Which really makes us all the same.’’

‘‘The carousel, older, dirty, reclaimed by nature, sits waiting, a flash of bright colour against the slate winter sky. Two dozen horses frozen in time are poised to gallop to faraway places. Lapland. Camelot. Timbuktu. Up to the moon and back again. Even in this state, it takes Maisie’s breath away. Who wouldn’t fall under its enchantment? ”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I used to own a doggy daycare business, and managed to write the first few chapters when the dogs were having their afternoon naps. It was very soothing hearing their little snuffly snores as I typed away!
• Playing the ‘Moulin Rouge’ soundtrack helped me get into the vibe of the story. Even though I’ve now listened to it about 500 times, I still love every song!
• It’s taken ten LONG years from coming up with the premise to the novel being published.
• I’ve been obsessed with carnivals, amusement parks (and especially carousels!) since I was a child.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Soon after meeting, both Maisie and Laurent sense a chemistry between them. There’s this physical attraction, yes, but actually more than that, they recognise their own brokenness in one another. They’ve each suffered loss, which they handle in different (not very healthy) ways; Maisie pretends that everything is fine, while Laurent has closed his heart to romance. So, we see them learning to deal with their grief as they fall in love.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions writing the book! The scenes where Laurent is thinking about his mother always brought me to tears. She suffered from depression, dying when he was very young, and her memory still haunts him. Here is a grown man, who appears charming and humorous on the surface, but deep down he is hurting. To write those passages authentically, I had to dig into my own experiences of loss, feeling my character’s pain.

Below is an excerpt, showing Laurent’s sadness even in moments of joy.

As the ride accelerates, Laurent is struck by the sleekness of movement, smooth as a knife over soft butter. My, this is wonderful! With the rise and fall of the horse, he feels his heart pounding as he clings on. Soon, however, the initial thrill is replaced by wistfulness. This reminds him of the summer afternoon three decades ago at the Parc de Belleville. In those days, it was rare for his mother to feel up to an outing. But there she was, perched beside him on the park’s pretty blue-and-white carousel, the rush of the ride loosening her neat chignon. ‘Oh, to hell with it,’ she laughed, and, with a flourish, pulled out the clasp, setting those rich brown curls free. Never having known her to be so bold, so alive, Laurent was captured by the moment.

He can almost see her here now, sitting on the elegant grey pony next to him with her hair flowing back. He can almost reach out and touch her. Almost. As the ride slows to a gradual stop, Laurent stumbles off the horse and staggers to the edge of the platform, where he sits, his head between his hands.

Readers should read this book….

For a genre blending, part mystery, part love story with twists and turns you won’t see coming.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m busy editing my second novel, which also combines mystery, romance and touches of magical realism. It’s set mainly in Depression-era USA and deals with the theme of shame. My biggest headache at the moment is trying to come up with a great title!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One copy of THE MIDNIGHT CAROUSEL (US & Canada only).  

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: What is your favorite carnival ride, and why?

Excerpt from The Midnight Carousel:

Maise is with her guardian when she first comes across the mysterious carousel at a train station in Chicago. Here is a taste of that scene.

The fragrance of fried onions from the hotdog stand follows Maisie as she struggles through the thousands of passengers milling about. Sidestepping a pile of luggage, she narrowly avoids colliding with a porter pushing a cart piled high with leather suitcases.

She is about to catch up with Sir Malcolm on platforms 5 and 6 when it happens: one second, their lives are progressing in a certain direction; the next everything changes, as though fate’s hand slips on the tiller.

Two burly station hands are manoeuvring a large wooden crate from the freight train alongside Platform 5, grunting with the strain. Swinging like a pendulum on a series of ropes, it needs steadying by another couple of men, who rush over. Together, they begin lowering the load, then leap back as the base of the crate collapses under its own weight. There’s an almighty crash. Sir Malcom and Maisie dive aside just in time to avoid being knocked out by a large object hurtling to the ground.

Sir Malcolm’s face turns puce, his eyes bulging. ‘‘Does no one know how to do their job around here?’’

Nudging each other, one of the station hands is pushed forwards.

‘‘Sorry, fella, I’ll just be taking this here out of your way,’’ he says in a broad Irish accent.

As the man tugs the bundle, the protective wrapping rips at one corner. Underneath the dull exterior of burlap, canary yellow bursts through like sunshine. The rip extends and tears away a large chunk of the covering to reveal something so unexpected that at first Maisie thinks she must be imagining it.

Without thinking, she kneels down amongst cigarette stubs and discarded gum, pulled by some sort of magnetic force. Deep brown eyes staring up at Maisie are framed by a toffee-colored face and auburn mane. Reaching out, her fingers stroke smooth skin as excitement tingles through her body. She can’t stop looking, can’t help admiring the beautiful form of a carousel horse.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

1920, Chicago. Maisie Marlowe arrives in America seeking a fresh start. When she discovers a forgotten fairground carousel, she dreams of building a dazzling amusement park – unaware the ride hides a sinister past.

Paris. Ten years earlier, a carousel was at the center of a string of disappearances. Detective Laurent Bisset closed the case – but now, whispers of similar vanishings in Chicago pull him across the ocean in search of the truth.

Maisie and Laurent each hold pieces of a chilling mystery. Can they uncover its secrets before the carousel claims another victim?
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Meet the Author:

Fiza Saeed McLynn studied History at Oxford University and had a brief career in finance before spending the next twelve years helping the bereaved as part of her work as a complementary therapist. THE MIDNIGHT CAROUSEL is her debut novel.
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