No one deserves recognition for a gripping and well-written story more than our next author Mahra Casden. I originally met Mahra looking for publishing help after being let down by a larger international publishing platform. As is usual, they sell hard and deliver less. I was excited from the get-go to give Mahra’s book the effort it deserved. From massaging the wording through to dressing the interior in a beautifully illustrated design that did the story justice. The book that emerged from our process was unrecognizable from the one that entered.
Allow me to introduce the talented author.
Your author name
Mahra Casden
Your book title
Survival: One Woman’s Search for Sanity
Give us the elevator pitch for your book?
Survival is a story about a woman’s struggle for sanity — by any means necessary — as she relives her past in a cruel and inhumane world, a woman irrevocably damaged first by her mother’s mental illness and later by her incarceration as a young adult in a prison camp. A powerful and thought-provoking story showing that the way in which society treats the vulnerable will have a permanent impact on their psyche.
How long did it take for you to finish the final draft of your book?
Don’t ask… It’s been a lifetime, really, while “life got in the way,” so I am: (a) a terrible example for other aspiring novelists; (b) a prime example of the inability to let go; or (c) a great example of perseverance.
What makes this book different from others on the shelf?
I don’t know…read it and you tell me?
What was the hardest part of the writing journey for you?
Self-belief, even unto this very day and presumably forever.
Your favourite place to write?
Since I still put (fountain) pen to paper, that would be any overly large wooden desk with a wide vista of a preferably wintry sky.
Tell us something about yourself that readers would not be able to guess.
I have never had the opportunity to engage in winter sports, but developed a passion for watching over the years of access TV coverage of Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and biathlon. It isn’t only the sport, but the breath-taking beauty of the venues.
Assuming you may not write full time, what is your day job?
Editorial assistant for archaeological publications
How should someone get in touch with you?
