Compelling narratives, vivid landscapes and intricate research are the hallmarks of Nicole Alexander’s bestselling historical novels. Published internationally, she is a past judge of the ARA Historical Novel Prize Australasia and the Historical Novel Society Colleen McCullough Residency. 

Her debut novel The Bark Cutters was shortlisted for an Australian Book Industry Award and she has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing. Nicole lives in northwest NSW.

If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and why?

Alexandre Dumas. In 1893 my great-grandfather and his two brothers selected our property in northwest NSW. That same year my great grandfather ordered a copy of the Count of Monte Christo. It was delivered by the postal rider and arrived at their simple one room hut  wrapped in twine on the back of pack horse. I imagine my great-grandfather and his brothers reading aloud from the novel. Perhaps sitting by a camp fire beneath a fat lazy moon with the bush stretching out in engulfing silence. That work of literature would have broken the isolation and monotony of the camp and given the men great joy and comfort. No doubt they discussed the plot as the story unfolded as they tended sheep or cut timber for fences. I'd love to tell Alexandre this story. For this extraordinary author to know that in a small corner of Australia, nearly fifty years after the novels publication a small group of men were given respite from their daily toils and left enthralled by his words.