Exactly a year ago, on 2nd of May 2014, I published my first novel: All Hallows at Eyre Hall.
I don’t know what I expected when I hit ‘publish’, because publishing was new to me. I didn’t have much of an online presence. I had about a dozen followers on my blog, no twitter, and Luccia Gray, my pen name and alter ego, was an unknown product of my imagination.
A year later, I have 319 followers and 14,000 views on my blog, 282 likes on my Author Facebook page, and over 2,000 followers on twitter, which means that many people know that Luccia Gray is a writer.
All Hallows at Eyre Hall has 37 reviews on Amazon.com, with an average of 4.4 out of 5 stars, and I’ve sold about one thousand ebooks. My Amazon Best Sellers Rank yesterday was #259,181 in the paid in kindle store. I also have 4.21 average rating on 33 ratings on Goodreads. I have no idea what this means in the bigger picture. I’m probably still a drop in the ocean, but I’m satisfied.
Now I’m a successful published author, because I’ve been an Amazon Bestseller on various occasions during the past year, and also because my book is being sold, read, and reviewed. Although I know more about indie authors and indie publishing, I’m still not sure what to expect as a writer in the long-term, but I do know that I’m going to keep on writing.
My career as a writer is a journey, not a race, and I’m not sure of the destination, except that the first stage of this journey includes writing the The Eyre Hall Trilogy.
The Eyre Hall Trilogy is a neo-Victorian Gothic Romance, set in Eyre Hall, the rebuilt Thornfield Hall, which was burnt down in Jane Eyre.
The trilogy takes up Jane’s life 22 years after her marriage to Edward Rochester, when she was a naïve 19-year-old, orphaned governess. In The Eyre Hall Trilogy, Mrs. Rochester is the mature matriarch and virtual administrator of the Rochester Estate, while her husband is lying on his deathbed, and unspeakable secrets, which rock Jane’s world, are gradually disclosed.
Book one, All Hallows at Eyre Hall, portrayed some dramatic and even shocking events, which escalated into an unexpected and unfortunate ending. Although there are several romances, it is a darker novel due to Rochester’s death, and the nature of the secrets revealed.
Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall, book two in the trilogy, takes up the story of the scattered and damaged characters, moving them on to experience more unexpected happenings, and surprising reunions and turns of events.
Although the plot is still thick with unexpected twists and some unpleasant turns, it is a more hopeful novel, as the diverse stories within the novel embark on a more promising journey, which is what I wanted to convey with this cover.
The highlight of the novel occurs around Christmas, 1867, when the members of the extended Rochester family: Jane, Richard, John, Annette, Adele and her fiancé, Mr. Greenwood and his son, Dante, their employees: Dr. Carter, Mr. Briggs, Michael, Susan, Simon, Beth, Daisy, Leah, Jenny, Nell, and Thomas, and some intriguing new characters, are reunited at Eyre Hall.
The action will take an unexpected turn with the death of a member of the household, in suspicious circumstances, on Twelfth Night, 6th of January.
The estimated publication date of Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall is the end of July, 2015
I’d like to thank Melody Simmons for the beautiful cover.
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Rereading Jane Eyre 
