Jacket design and illustration by Sharon McCall

 

Topaz Woman

a novel by Christine Candland

It's 1975 and Cassidy Brookes is stuck in a dead-end job at a Hollywood movie studio. A testy encounter with A-list director Jeff McConnell provokes her into dusting off her ambitions to become a writer. Taunted by McConnell, Cassie decides to write a screenplay to show him what she can do—but she is at a loss for a story.

While shopping at an antiques fair, Cassie buys a jeweled brooch containing a rare Imperial Topaz. She learns the brooch was once owned by a mysterious red-haired woman who lived in Ouro Preto, a fabled eighteenth-century city in Brazil, known for its Topaz mines and rivers of gold. As Cassie fingers the brooch, she feels a powerful connection to the red-haired woman, who lived half a century before. So great is her obsession with the story, Cassie quits her job and abandons McConnell, with whom she is falling in love.

After traveling to Brazil, Cassie arrives in Ouro Preto to track down the clues which lead to Amanda Savage. A child of two continents and a jazz-age rebel, Amanda proved to be a formidable activist in her day, as she challenged the aristocracy and their treatment of the local miners.

Amanda's courage blossoms in Cassie who is driven to solve the riddle of Amanda's death and bring the legendary tale of the Topaz Woman to light. How Cassie writes the story of Amanda Savage, battles the studio and Jeff McConnell brings this romantic adventure to its exciting conclusion.

 
   
 

Praise for TOPAZ WOMAN

'Topaz Woman is a delightful, entertaining read with substance. In Cassidy Brookes, the author has created an authentic heroine who maintains a strong sense of independence and integrity in her adventures in work, in romance, and in the pursuit of a fulfilling, unique life. I rooted for Cassie, a dreamer who makes her dreams come true, as she seeks her 'happy' Hollywood ending."

—Yolanda Barnes, author of When It Burned to the Ground

"A young woman writes a movie script, sells it, acts in it, and falls in love with the famous director. A fairy­tale? Not the way Christine Candland does it. Skirting the usual Styrofoam of the Hollywood novel, she creates a twentyish woman with an honest heart, and a mighty strong one at that. The forty-something director lives a lonely life in his sprawling home on the beach. How satisfying to see two ambitious, yet down-to-earth people find each other in the watch-your-back world of Hollywood."

—Tom Dunsmuir, Emmy Award-winning writer

"Topaz Woman takes the reader on a journey into an abandoned, but once glorious, city in Brazil—as seen through the eyes of a movie crew, a seasoned director and a young writer turned ingénue. Frustration and unrealistic studio demands tear at the romance of this famous director and the young actress. A great read!"

—Dianne de la Vega, author of Heaven Knows, Anything Goes

 
 

In 2009, Christine was named "Winner" in the National Indie Excellence Awards Chick-Lit category and won Honorable Mention at both the London Book Fair and Creative Arts Council. In 2008, she was a Finalist in the National Best Books competition.

See review by US Review of Books: Click Here

Read all about Christine's second highly acclaimed novel Pleiades Rising Click Here

  To contact the author:
topazwomannovel@aol.com
 

Can be purchased at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com