Natasha Lester's Blog

Hello friends! I know I promised you a cover reveal for the Australian edition of THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET, but that is coming very soon! We still had a bit of finessing to do, but I saw the finished cover yesterday and it’s stunning! I can’t wait to show it off—hopefully!—in my next newsletter. So, for this newsletter, let’s talk about other people’s books instead—more specifically, my favourite reads of 2026.

Those of you who’ve been subscribing to my newsletter for a while will know the drill—thi...

Hello friends and readers! I’ve been hiding in the writing burrow for most of the past month, but I always love climbing out for a few hours to write these posts. I think that’s part of the beauty of these missives—at least it’s what I most enjoy about the ones I subscribe to on Substack—you get to step inside the imaginings, wonder, curiosity, thoughts, insights, worries, and dreams of another human being. There’s so much slop on the internet now, so many things that have no imaginings, curiosi...

After last week’s cover reveal, which was all about me-me-me, it feels like it’s time for a bookish post! I haven't done a reading round up for quite a while and there are a few books I loved that I want to share with you. So let’s dive in!

Let’s start with the absolute best of the bunch—Sandwich by Catherine Newman. Oh my lord, this book is exquisite. Like a tiny, perfect miracle.

It’s not really about anything, while at the same time it’s about so many of the things ...

It’s always one of the most exciting times in my writing life when I finally get to share with you a beautiful new book cover—and it’s that time right now for THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET! Huge thanks to People Magazine for doing the official cover reveal—and yes, I do feel very cool and a little awestruck to be saying that People Magazine are doing this for me! I mean, that’s my book in People Magazine!! Aaaaahhhhh!!!

Just FYI before we go any further—this is the North American cover. Covers for Austra...

When I was ten years old, I borrowed Jane Eyre from the library. The book had one of those old-fashioned illustrated covers where Rochester looms large on his white horse and Jane is relegated to a small corner. I was a serious and bookish child and I thought it was important to read classic literature if I ever wanted to be a grown-up. And the deeper I got into this novel, the more grown-up I felt. A madwoman! An excitingly steely man! A gothic mansion! Passion, a concept I hadn’t understood un...

Five authors gathered at my beach house for four days of bookish fun last week and we quickly realized that everyone’s outlook on writing, no matter that we all write in slightly different genres, could be summed up by what said one night: We don’t want to stuff it up by writing it.

Luckily it’s impossible to stuff up a writing retreat by actually having one. In fact, it’s the opposite. There was so much camaraderie and laughter, so many problems solved and wines drunk, so much support given an...

If you’re thinking I’ve been very quiet on social media over the past few weeks, you’d be right. It’s probably going to be that way for at least the rest of the month. I’m writing a new book, and I’ve said before that I find first drafts to be the hardest part of the writing process, which means it’s almost impossible to find any space in my brain for social media. But I’ll still be here on Substack posting 3 newsletters a month, I promise! I enjoy writing these much more than I enjoy feeding th...

Book covers are one of the more mysterious aspects of the publishing business. In the mind of every author is an ideal cover for their story, and probably no author in the whole history of the world has ever had that cover delivered to them by their publisher. And that's probably a good thing!

Because often what we imagine, as authors, as a visual representation of our story is more about its heart and soul and less about the tangible cues that might lure in a reader when they see your book on a...

A couple of weeks ago I sat down to start writing another book. Yes, that's right — I've only recently submitted the edited manuscript for THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET to my publisher, but I'm already starting to write something new. In an ideal world, I'd like a bit more of a break between finishing the edit of one book and starting another. But it's been a b…

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As always it's been a busy couple of weeks since I last wrote to you. My book tour finished on a high with event at the gorgeous Gertrude and Alice Bookshop in Bondi. This was followed by a lunch at Bannisters by the Sea in Mollymook on the NSW south coast. And then they gave me a room to stay on for the weekend at Bannisters and to eat at the Rick Stein restaurant all weekend!! I know I'm a writer and words are my tools but I cannot honestly think of a word exuberantly appreciative enough to de...