Self-published Oswestry author signs up to major deal
A Shropshire author's novels have proven such a hit after she self-published them as ebooks that a top publishing house has now snapped her up and put her under contract.
And the first book from the deal between 74-year-old Mary Fitzgerald and Random House – called "The Love of a Lifetime" and billed as a beautiful love story perfect for fans of Maeve Binchy – has just been published, with more in the pipeline.
"I've written on and off for years and years," said Kate Rosenberg, of Maesbury Marsh, who uses her middle names Mary and Fitzgerald as her nom-de-plume.
"My father, who was Irish, said that we belonged to the Fitzgerald clan."
Caring for her mother, who was in her 90s, meant she had to stay at home.
"She lived in a flat in our house. I couldn't go out, but refused to get upset and would come back to the kitchen and write on the laptop. I never got published, and about three years ago put six of my novels on to Kindle. They did really well. I was quite surprised.
"Last year Random House got in touch and said that they had seen that the novels were doing well and had had good reviews and asked if I would be interested in a contract with them. It was such a startling event for me. You don't ever imagine it's going to happen. They have taken six of my Kindle e-novels and contracted me to do two more."
Her book "The Love of a Lifetime" was one of the novels which was published on Kindle, when it went under the title "Richard Wilde."
Mrs Rosenberg, a mother of four, was born and brought up in Chester and had a career in nursing, and lived for a time in Canada and America. Her husband Mervyn was the medical director of the Maelor Hospital at Wrexham.
"The Love of a Lifetime" is published by Arrow Books, a Random House imprint, and costs £5.99.
