Emily Paull's Blog

 

I made this image earlier in 2025, when I was writing on my Instagram account about the importance of pre-ordering books. The list of books that I am excited about is an ever-growing, living document, and I am always on the lookout for things to add to it.  You'll notice something about the authors included in this image too: they are all Australian writers, and a lot of them are from Western Australia, where I live. 
One thing I was taught when I did my professional writing and publishing gradu...

At the Great Big Book Club event at AH Bracks Library on April 3rd 2025, in conversation with talented WA historical fiction writer, Michael Burrows (author of Where the Line Breaks)


 
 



        With bestselling author Michael Trant




With bestselling author Sasha Wasley,
who provided a wonderful blurb quote
for the back of the book.

With bestselling author Louise Allan
who provided another one
of the amazing blurb quotes.
Louise and I used to be in a 
writing group and I can't believe
how many times she's r...

 My book has a cover (!) and is now available to pre-order from your favourite local bookstore. You can also sign up on the Fremantle Press website to be notified when it is available to purchase. 

Sarah Willis longs to free herself from the expectations of a privileged upbringing, while Winston Keller can’t afford the luxury of a dream. Despite their differences, the pair are drawn together in a whirlwind romance that defies the boundaries of class. But when a dark family secret pulls the young ...

The best laid plans of mice and men, etc etc... 

Each year, I ambitiously set myself a reading challenge, and each year, I deviate from it. In fact, this year I have several challenges. I was going to read 25 randomly selected backlist titles from my TBR. I was going to read everything I bought last year. I was going to read 50% of everything I bought THIS year. I was going to read one hundred books. (And for that last one, at least, I still might. The year is not over yet.)

But the fact remains t...

The cat is out of the bag now - I've signed a contract with Fremantle Press to publish The Dreamers. 

Known as Between the Sleepers for many years and The Compound before that, this book is about 15 years in the making. It's been my dream to be part of the Fremantle Press family of authors for a very long time. 

You can expect to see The Dreamers in all good bookstores from March 2025 - if that feels like a long way away, I hear you, but I think the time will fly and I'll be holding my book in my ...

 (I do most of my updates over on Instagram these days)

Photo by Ryan Gibson photography, courtesy of Fremantle Press

In early May I found out that I was one of six writers shortlisted for the Fogarty Literary Award, administered by Fremantle Press, and so ensued a long month of waiting and publicity opportunities. The manuscript I was shortlisted for was 'The Dreamers' - a few of you won't recognise the name because the book has been known as 'Between The Sleepers' right up until pretty much the ...

January is a month that goes quickly, whilst simultaneously feeling as if it is five years long. I don't think I've ever quite come to terms with the fact that after you leave school, you don't just automatically get given summer holidays. But here we are-- January 29. We have made it. 

I've been trying to build writing back in to my regular routine, aided and abetted by my wonderful writers group, the Perth History Writers' Salon. Currently, I am doing a fine-toothed-comb through of the draft I ...

 I went to see SIX the Musical in Perth last night after many years of hearing about how great it was. If you're not familiar with the concept, SIX is a kind of rock opera/ pop concert type show in which the six wives of Henry the Eighth are reimagined as pop divas competing for the role of 'lead singer in the band.' The competition? To see which one of them endured the worst treatment (and sometimes abuse) from their royal husband, Henry the Eighth. It's funny, clever, and full of girl power mo...

It's been a bit of time between blog posts.

So much has happened this year. 

I've been adjusting to my new role as a librarian, working (somewhat sporadically) on two novels, and most recently, I've been moving house. There also seems to be all manner of chaos going on in the world at the moment. It's relentless-- after the horror of the 2020 bushfire season, we now have continual flooding; war overseas; another wave of the dreaded virus. Sometimes, it's a little bit too much. 

But, when the world ...

This review was originally published by The AU Review on April 22, 2022.

Shipwrecks, court fashions and the Dutch art trade of the 17th Century take centre stage in Lauren Chater’s third historical novel, The Winter Dress. Chater was inspired by a shipwreck discovered in 2014 off the island of Texel, containing a dress perfectly preserved underwater for four hundred years. The dress was later found to have belonged to Jean Kerr, Countess of Roxburghe, a lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria.

In...