Writer strikes the jackpot

A Howick writer's romantic novels filled with meaningful looks and passionate kisses have found an enthusiastic following worldwide. Andrea Jutson reports.
In every romance novel readers are promised a happy ending. Now Howick's Yvonne Lindsay has found hers with The Boss's Christmas Seduction. In her second week as a published author, Yvonne reached the top of the Waldenbooks romance list, based on sales for all Waldenbooks and Borders stores in the United States. That was last month. Now Yvonne has a five-book deal with Silhouette publishing house in New York, and receives emails from fans as far afield as South America, the Middle East and Africa. Her books, set in Auckland, have been translated into about 25 languages. ``I think the more dire things become in this world, the more need there is for escapism,'' says Yvonne. She's been writing romances since she was 15, but a meeting with Kiwi author Susan Napier at Howick's Uxbridge Centre introduced her to the writing scene and spurred her on. In 1999, with her first novel, she won the Emma Darcy Award, judged by the Australian publishing industry. In 2004, she won New Zealand's own Clendon Award, the only author to win both, and the last, she says with a triumphant twinkle, as the Emma Darcy is no longer running. Success was bittersweet, as Mills & Boon had just rejected her work for the umpteenth time when she learned she'd won the Clendon. Mills & Boon eventually told her she didn't fit in with their style. ``I'd spent 13 years banging my head against a brick wall. I felt like I'd suffered a bereavement.'' Getting published, she says, is like winning Lotto. You could be one number off the pace or 10. Now she's achieved more than most other new Kiwi authors in one go. Yvonne says her family is thrilled for her. Until the royalties come in she'll keep her day job as an office manager, but she looks forward to writing full-time. Her advice to would-be authors is, firstly, finish your book, and secondly, never give up. ``You quit and you always wonder: `Was success just around the corner?'.''