Darlene Foster, author of the Amanda Travels series, will be at Unlimited Characters in Medicine Hat on Sunday from 1-3 p.m. reading from her latest book, Amanda in France: Fire in the Cathedral - SUBMITTED PHOTO
The latest book in the Amanda Travels series has been released and the author, Darlene Foster, has been travelling across the country promoting it. Currently in B.C., she will be in Medicine Hat this coming weekend.
“(The tour) has been going extremely well. I sold out of all the books I had with me in Tsawwassen and could have sold more,” said Foster.
Amanda in France: Fire in the Cathedral takes place in Paris, where the protagonist visits Notre Dame on her first day in the city and the fire starts the following day.
“She’s devastated because she loves the cathedral, and for a 12-year-old it’s quite upsetting,” explained Foster. “She has an incredibly inquisitive mind and she’s always thinking.”
Amanda is travelling with her best friend, Leah, and her aunt in this adventure. The books are not sequential and don’t need to be read in order, with each one taking place in a different location with a different adventure. When she turns 12-years-old, in the first book, she is wishing for travel and adventure and the wish comes true, which is the start of the series.
“I wasn’t in Paris when the fire happened but was there the year before,” said Foster. “I have been in the Cathedral and I’m so glad I went because a year later we were watching TV, and the announcement came that Notre Dame was on fire. I’d started the book already and thought I would include this. I’m not a planner, I write by the seat of my pants. As the ideas come, I put them in the book.”
Medicine Hat Library has a set of the Amanda Travels books, which is exciting for Foster since she used to go there as a child and now, she has her own books on the shelf. Foster was born in Medicine Hat and raised on a ranch near Irvine. She moved to Calgary in the 1980s, then onto to Vancouver for more than 20 years and now lives in Spain.
Foster wants to encourage everyone to never give up on their dreams.
“I wanted to write books ever since I could write, but I didn’t start writing until I was a grandmother,” she said. “It doesn’t matter when it happens, you should never give up on your dreams.”
Darlene Foster will be at Unlimited Characters in Medicine Hat on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 1-3 p.m. where she will be reading from and signing her books along with answering questions.
