From time to time a foreign language edition of one of my books drops into my post box, and each time it gives me a thrill.

On the right is the French edition of Marry In Scarlet, and the French title is more or less the same. That’s the actual book, sitting on my kitchen bench.

But sometimes the overseas publisher changes the title to something they think will appeal better to the local readership, and I find that so interesting. I don’t mind, because I figure whatever sells the books is fine by me.

My publisher just sent me an image of the new French cover for my latest book — The Rake’s Daughter, which is about Izzy, who is illegitimate. And the French publisher has gone straight for it with the title — La Fille Illégitime .

The book isn’t out yet, but I’ll be interested to see how it does.

You can see more of my books in French here.

I’m thrilled that they’re doing so well.

Thank you too all my French readers, and J’ai Lu, the publisher, for translating and publishing my books.

 The e-book of my book THE PERFECT STRANGER is on special at BookBub for $1.99. (It varies slightly depending on your currency.) BUT BE QUICK, because the special finishes on 10th January.

Get it at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, or  your favorite e-retailer

Mary Jo Putney said about The Perfect Stranger: “A wounded Waterloo soldier, a young but stalwart heroine in dire straits, marriage of convenience, a hound from hell—SO up my alley!“ 

There’s an excerpt here. https://www.annegracie.com/books/the-merridew-sisters/the-perfect-stranger/excerpt-the-perfect-stranger/

A few reader reviews of The Perfect Stranger:
From Amazon:
Just lovely. Great story, great characters, great progression of plot. Needed a couple of handkerchiefs – be warned. One of the best historical romances I have read. Highly recommended. (Dr Antony Galione)

Once you pick this book up you will never put it down. The ending is so emotional I had tears running down my face. An amazing story of love and happiness.  (From Angcon

From B&N: 
I laughed and cried and loved every moment of it. I didn’t expect Faith’s story to go that way. I couldn’t put it down.  (anonymous)

Original and thrilling. It made me laugh and cry…very refreshing story about an ex veteran and a woman who would not give up on the man she loves. Definitely a page-turner!! Loved the characters…gotta love Mac :-)  (anonymous)

And if AUDIO BOOKS are your jam, the audio book of THE SPRING BRIDE is also on sale in the USA for $2.99.  https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/the-spring-bride-by-anne-gracie/

I received a lovely email from a French reader who had seen one of my books — in French— on the amazon France site, in a duo edition with Mary Balogh, but had forgotten which one it was. Did I know?

Of course I was thrilled to be in anything with Mary Balogh, but authors almost never get told about these things — only that the French publisher has purchased rights to this book or that. So I jumped over to the site and did a search for my name. 

Lots of my books had been listed, but I could see no book in a duo with Mary Balogh. So then I searched for “Mary Balogh and Anne Gracie”, and lo! it came up. That’s it on the right.

But which book of mine was it? I can’t usually tell because most of the foreign publishers change the titles to suit their markets, so it’s not generally a straight translation. This one was called A Mysterious Stranger, which told me nothing about what the English title was.

Generally no matter what language my translations are, I can usually work out which book of mine one is by the names of the characters in the back cover blurb.  So I looked for the blurb. But there wasn’t one for my book — only for Mary Balogh’s.

They did, however, have a brief blurb about me. It made me laugh. Here it is translated by Google from the French:  It was while traveling around the world, in the company of her favorite authors (from Jane Austen to Charles Dickens via Mary Stewart) that Anne Gracie wrote her first historical romance. Since then becoming a teacher, she has never lost her taste for writing and has become one of the queens of the successful romance, crowned with multiple awards.

It’s not exactly accurate — I was already a teacher, and I’m no queen of anything.  Those on-line translation thingies are very funny at times, aren’t they? But I did like the idea that Jane Austen and Charles Dickens and I traveled the world via Mary Stewart. I’m sure we had a great time. And I still have no idea what book of mine made it into a duo with the wonderful Mary Balogh. With any luck it will bring me some more readers — French readers, anyway. 
But I wish I knew which book of mine it was.