Kate Furnivall Books In Order

Publication Order of The Russian Concubine Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Kate Furnivall is literary and historical fiction author from the small seaside town of Penarth in Wales. She was born to a mother that spent her childhood in India, China and Russia. She soon discovered that her world was too volatile and that the only things that could hold value over the long term were those in her heart and her head.

Kate got a degree in English from London University and proceeded to find a career in publishing as she wrote the course material for a series of non fiction works on the canals in the United Kingdom. She would then get into advertising which is where she met Norman, her future husband.

Kate traveled widely and it was from this that she got deep insights into different cultures. She would then use these in the writing of her debut novel “The Russian Concubine.” The novel was inspired by the death of her mother which drove her to write about the happenings in her mothers life.

Furnivall now makes her home in a seaside cottage in Devon from where she writes her novels from the backdrop of wild moorland, seascapes, beaches and gorgeous villages full of clotted cream.

Unlike many of her contemporaries, Kate Furnivall never dreamed of becoming an author even though she was a voracious reader of books when she was young. While she studied English in college, writing is something that came later.

In fact, she was astounded that she loved writing and that many people found her stories so enjoyable that she thought she would make a career of it. It was from her husband that she would get the writing bug. Norman used to write crime fiction as Neville Steed and she always thought it was such an interesting life.

As such, when she set about writing it was not a huge struggle as she had him hold her hand. Once she published her debut, she got hooked and now feels as if it has always been a part of her just like breathing.

Meanwhile, Norman, her bestselling husband of more than thirteen crime fiction novels, no longer writes as he has become a painter. Still Kate values his judgment and he is always the first critic to read anything she writes.

While she worked in book publishing, Kate Furnivall never got much from it in terms of learning how to write fiction since she for the most part worked on guide books. Nonetheless, these helped her develop a taste for travel that she uses for her many experiences, settings and characters.

On the other hand, studying English in college where she sat and read the whole day was a glorious and blissful way to spend three years. It was during this time that she analyzed and deconstructed literature and learned about what held a book together.

This would form the backbone of her writing career as she often had and still has imagery from Pamela by Jane Richardson and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte in her mind. Literary fiction would be a real eye opener even though she tried as much as possible to develop her own style.

Just like every other writer, she gets her inspiration from multiple sources. For her debut, she got her idea much closer to home when her mother died and she thought she should tell her story.

Her mother had to flee Russia when the Bolsheviks took over and lived as a penniless refugee in India, China and several other South Asian countries. She spent nine years in research and finally published the novel in 2007.

“The Jewel of St. Petersburg” by Kate Frunivall is set a few years before the Russian Revolutions. It is a time of great uncertainty as the Bolsheviks are agitating for change and this causes much unrest all over Russia.

A young high born Russian woman named Valentina Ianovna is a victim of the violence as a terrorist bomb explodes in her fathers study and Katya, her younger sister is left permanently injured. This event leaves Valentina feeling a sense of guilt and she ultimately devotes her life to taking care of her sister.
Just like many other high born women, she was brought up to bring honor to her family by marrying well. Her smallish hands are not meant for heavy labor but rather for playing the piano. When she says that she intends to be a nurse it is a huge shock to her family who forbid it.

Instead, they try to get her married to one of the Hussar regiment’s most eligible colonels. What her family is unaware of is that she has fallen for a Danish engineer Jens Friis. The man is in Petersburg, Russia designing new sewer systems to replace the dilapidated ones that had not seen an upgrade in centuries.

Kate Furnivall’s “The Russian Concubine” is a novel set in China in 1926 that tells an emotional story of two star crossed lovers.
In a city full of death and danger, communists and thieves, Lydia Ivanova knows what it is to live a hard life. Looking over her shoulder is the norm for the sixteen year old girl who must steal to feed her family.

Valentina, her mother, is among the high born Russian men and women that the Bolsheviks had almost managed to exterminate when they took over. As exiles, Valentina and Lydia have managed to survive so far in China.

Unknown to her mother, Lydia often sneaks away to go meet Chang An Lo, a young and handsome freedom fighter. But the troops led by Chiang Kai Shek are heading for what they now call their hometown in Junchow. They intend to kill Reds like Chang who possesses the jewels of the former Tsarina.

But nothing can stop the all consuming love of the young pair which promises to bring peril and shame on them if they are caught. Chang and Lydia are powerless to end it, even as those in power are determined to quash their love.

“The Girl from Junchow” by Kate Furnivall is set in 1929 China and still follows the story of Lydia Ivanova. She always believed that the Bolsheviks were responsible for her father’s death. But then she learns that he is in prison in Russia, where Stalin reigns supreme.

The revelation makes the feisty Lydia mad as she becomes determined to leave everything behind including Chang An Lo, her Chinese lover. She teams up with Alexei, her half brother and the two set out on a dangerous tension-filled journey to Russia.

However, Alexei is busy looking into his past and this angers Lydia who is only interested in forging a new future and finding her father. But then Alexei goes missing leaving Lydia all alone and without any money in Soviet Russia.

Her search for information about her father and brother soon gets her caught up in an entanglement with an officer of the Russian military. But her Chinese lover has not forgotten her and has information about her father that she does not.

As he dashes across the continent to get to her she is ready for dire consequences in the cause for truth.

One Response to “Kate Furnivall”

1. Ellie Hallman: 2 years ago

   I’ve just finished the guardian of lies in about 2 d. Great read as have all her earlier ones been. Hoping she has another in the works. Ellie

   Reply