Interview: Author ‘Hazel Prior’ Talks Her Great Debut Novel Ellie And The Harpmaker

Hazel is an experienced and enthusiastic harp-player based in Somerset and Exmoor. She has been playing for many years and has provided harp music for all sorts of events: the Ferrara Music Festival in Italy, a Shakespeare play at The Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol, poetry readings, Medieval banquets, flower festivals and story-telling evenings. Her favourite recent venues include Woolhanger Manor, Barrington Court and Dunster Castle. She has performed with the harp at plenty of weddings, including her own!

Follow her on Twitter and her website here. The book is in stores on Tuesday, August 6th from Berkley. You can listen below to the interview.

A rich, heartwarming and charming debut novel that reminds us that sometimes you find love in the most unexpected places.

Dan Hollis lives a happy, solitary life carving exquisite Celtic harps in his barn in the countryside of the English moors. Here he can be himself, away from social situations that he doesn’t always get right or completely understand.

On the anniversary of her beloved father’s death, Ellie Jacobs takes a walk in the woods and comes across Dan’s barn. She is enchanted by his collection. Dan gives her a harp made of cherrywood to match her cherry socks. He stores it for her, ready for whenever she’d like to take lessons.

Ellie begins visiting Dan almost daily and quickly learns that he isn’t like other people. He makes her sandwiches precisely cut into triangles and repeatedly counts the (seventeen) steps of the wooden staircase to the upstairs practice room. Ellie soon realizes Dan isn’t just different; in many ways, his world is better, and he gives her a fresh perspective on her own life.