Avatar for Val-Rae Christensen

Val-Rae Christensen

Last week's position: 1917

rank: 1968

first registered 17.02.09

last online 23 hours ago

report abuse
about me

Lover of classic literature and all things British. I write historical literary fiction, a sort of sequential snapshot of human life through modern history, particularly the Victorian era, the Edwardian era as it is ripped open by the onslaught of world war, eventually landing in the modern day. In each volume I try to capture, as vividly and accurately as I'm able, a point in time. My heroes and heroines, my villains and victims, share the same struggles we do. I suppose one might say they are stories of morals and morality, cautionary tales. They are both biography and fantasy, both history and modern reflection. My aim is to make my readers feel the yearnings and passions of those I write about. And to make them think.

I don't pay much attention to spam. I don't have time to reciprocate every read, but I will back and comment on anything that catches my fancy.

Currently awaiting feedback from a publisher, so my time is limited by preparatory edits and other responsibilities. Do be patient with me.

favourite books

May 1812 by M.M. Bennetts
Souvenirs by Louise Galvin
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Lorna Doone by Richard Blackmore
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Persuasion by Jane Austen
A Room With a View by E.M. Forrester
Anything by C.S. Lewis
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

my websites

http://www.vrchristensen.com    

HarperCollins is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Self-publish with CreateSpace

my books

Of Moths and Butterflies

V.R. Christensen

A haunting past. A fortune she does not want. An arranged marriage. Reduced to a commodity, can any hope for happiness still exist?


Imogen Everard has inherited a fortune. Rather than seeing it as the making of her future, she shuns it as the shackles that will chain her to a past from which she would do anything to escape. And so she attempts to free herself. But her efforts are frustrated when her marriage is arranged. Still, happiness is not quite beyond her, but in order to love her husband, she must first learn to love herself.

 

Kentridge Hall

V.R. Christensen

Happiness means something different to each of us, but from each it requires sacrifice. What would you give up to have all you wanted?


Kentridge Hall is the story of Isabelle Hampstead, a young woman who, after the death of her father, finds herself the recipient of an offer to assume a place within her wealthy landlord’s family. She’s skeptical of the motivation behind such an extraordinary invitation, but having nowhere else to go, she reluctantly accepts it. While she is being groomed according to the ideals of society and of the eldest son, heir to title and fortune, the younger brothers, suspicious of her motives, labour to dig up her past in order to expose her as a mercenary and an upstart. Their endeavors, however, bring them face to face with their own falsely held pride when they discover just how closely her mysterious past is connected with their own. David, the elder of the two, is forced to reconsider ideals he has been trained to uphold, and must ask himself some very hard questions about integrity, honour, and the right of every man--or woman--to choose the path of his own happiness.

Kentridge Hall is complete at 125K words.

 

Gods and Monsters

V.R. Christensen

When experience is the prize of half a population and complete naivete the virtue of the other, what happens when the two collide?


Daniel Holbrook returns from an extended sojourn abroad determined to make up for lost time and wasted opportunities. Taking a job as a reading companion to an eccentric old gentleman, Daniel finds himself placed quite comfortably amidst a family setting the likes of which he has never experienced. Alayna Durham, naive, open to a fault, struggles to find the balance between a proper cautiousness of nature and an open regard that seems constantly to put her in the way of unwelcome offers of marriage–which she refuses, to her father’s utter despair. Her peril suddenly becomes an object of extreme concern when Daniel’s past resurfaces. The consequences of former actions, though well intended, have left a path of destruction in their wake and Alayna seems determined to welcome these with open arms. In Daniel’s position, he has not the power to save everyone. Even if he sacrifices himself, someone will be left to suffer. A choice must be made, but at what consequence?

 

my friends

Abu El Banat
Abu El Banat
last online 1 hour ago
Heikki Hietala
Heikki Hietala
last online 1 hour ago
Jeff Blackmer
Jeff Blackmer
last online 3 hours ago
Iva P.
Iva P.
last online 6 hours ago
Sandrine
Sandrine
last online 7 hours ago
Greta
Greta
last online 15 hours ago

leave me a message

click here to leave a message

latest

ProdigalProphet wrote 9 hours ago

Hi Val-Rae I wondered if you'd like to take a wee peek at The Prodig....

mvw888 wrote 1 day ago

Hello Val-Rae, I’ve backed your intriguing and polished book, alt....

GABRIELA VILCU wrote 1 day ago

Thanks so much! Gabriela

GABRIELA VILCU wrote 1 day ago

Hi Val-Rae! Hooked by the pitch, I backed with pleasure your book. T....

Elizabeth Wolfe wrote 2 days ago

Hi VR, just to let you know, I've recently backed your book. Would yo....

view all

my comments

latest

I wrote 3 days ago

"This story starts, like every other story that ever drew breath and lived, with a boy and a girl." That's it. I'm hooked. How beautiful is that sentence? And it just gets better and better. I have to say, one of my chief complaints about autho, at least in the past (I took a rather long break ... view book

I wrote 3 days ago

I think this is really remarkable. A great, original premise, just odd enough to be really different, yet utterly believable. If I had one suggestion which I thought might strengthen it, it would be to move his history, his discovery of his own immortality further into the book. In the opening pa... view book

I wrote 4 days ago

This is a great, high energy, grab'em from the get-go, read. A page-turner with a great hook right from the off. Now, were I going to offer a suggestion or two, they would be exceedingly minor and for your consideration only. Certainly not deal breakers here. I personally think the first sentenc... view book

I wrote 7 days ago

This is really remarkable. Engaging, convincing in its evocation of time. Tragic, beautiful, engaging. This is a remarkable work. I'm proud to have it on my shelf. Very best of luck to you with it. view book

I wrote 7 days ago

I like this quite a lot. Your writing style is clean and concise, you give just enough information to have us intrigued but not so obvious as to make it predictable. That your heroine is not a svelt vixen is great, that she detests her "boring" but otherwise seemingly perfect husband (who is clear... view book

view all