Lost in France Book Giveaway
Instagram Lost in France giveaway May 25-27, 2026
Here’s what Alcove Press posted on Instagram today:
It's #bookgiveaway time! Enter for the chance to win a copy of ✨LOST IN FRANCE✨ by @clairerossdunn, a refreshing story about a mother-daughter duo heading to France to transform their lives.
Dedicated single mom and overworked film festival staffer Marlow buys a house online for one euro—then finds out there are strings attached. To sort out the mess, Marlow decides to take an impromptu holiday in France. But when the impossible local bureaucrat refuses her a refund, she decides to renovate and flip the house.
Along for the ride is Marlow’s teenage daughter, Sabine. Recently graduated but adrift, Sabine uses the trip as a chance to secretly reconnect with her Parisian father. And when a cute but arrogant boy enters the picture, things get even more complicated.
Meanwhile, Marlow finds herself caught between two men, the fascinating but irascible village handyman and the wealthy and charming owner of a nearby champagnerie. Torn between a safe but predictable life back in Toronto and a wonderful if uncertain future abroad, Marlow and Sabine must embrace spontaneity and the transformative power of being a little lost.
Details to enter below! ⬇️
🥖Make sure to follow @alcovepress and @clairerossdunn
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🇫🇷Tell us if you've ever visited France or lived there!
U.S. only. Giveaway ends 5.27.26. Good luck!
#giveaway#junebookreleases#romancebooks#contemporaryfiction
Please submit—I’d love for you to win a copy.
Lost in France audiobook now available for pre-order
Lost in France will be published on June 23, and while the book has been available for pre-order for some time, the audiobook has just become available for pre-order too.
You can snag it on Libro.fm (which supports independent bookstores) here, Audible here, Amazon Canada here, and Amazon US here.
Next newsletter, I look forward to sharing an interview I did with the book’s narrator, actor Kate Udall.
Where I’m writing these days
If you’re a morning writer like me, then I highly recommend three groups where I get the bulk of my writing done: Sue Reynolds’ PJ Writing, Lauren O’Malley’s Imperfect Co-Writing, and Eileen Campbell-Reed’s Writing Table.
I’ve talked about Sue before. She’s an incredible writer, editor, publisher, AWA Facilitator, and workshop and retreat leader who, ever since COVID, has added to the astounding number of things she does to include weekday online co-writes that happen in creative quiet at 7:30-8:30 am ET. This means you sign on, say hello, put an intention in the chat if you like, and write for 55 minutes with others but in silence on your own project, camera on or off. If you’re having trouble getting to the page frequently enough, this is for you, 5 days a week, Monday-Friday. It’s free, and you can sign up here.
Pro tip: Sue has, in the last few months, started a 7:30-8:30 am PT group as well, and it’s open to all, in any time zone. So on a usual day, I get in two one-hour sessions of writing a day with Sue. The sign-up web page for PJ PST is the same as above.
Writer/Marketer/Copywriter/Website designer extraordinaire Lauren O’Malley has started offering the same sort of co-write-in-silence hour via her company, The Imperfect Network. Imperfect Co-Writing takes place every weekday, 9:30-10:30 am ET, so that hour snuggles in just right between Sue’s two one-hour sessions. Which, for you writing addicts out there like me, means that you can get in 3 hours of writing in the morning with a tidy one-hour break in there for breakfast, or email answering, or putting in a laundry, or all three. You can sign up for Lauren’s co-write hour here.
On Fridays, I attend Eileen Campbell-Reed’s Freewrite Friday session, 9 am-10:15 am ET. Eileen is an Author, Researcher, Professor, Mentor, Coach, and Founder & Host of Three-Minute Ministry Mentor and the Writing Table. You can get an annual membership to The Writing Table, which is a daily co-write session, Monday-Friday, or you can just do Freewrite Fridays, which is what I do—they’re free of charge. Eileen starts the hour with a short, guided meditation to help focus in on what you want to write, then we do 2 pomodoros (two 25-minute stints of anything you need to get done—in this case, writing) and then we chat about strategies of how we got over the hump and got something onto the page. You can sign up for these Freewrite Fridays here.
The Kino Isaac Show
If you’d like to hear a more in-depth chat about Lost in France and my first novel, At Last Count, you can listen to the Kino Isaac show here. I recorded the interview about a week ago and had a great time.
UPCOMING EVENTS
June 2, 2026 – Screening of documentary film Abroad: Patchwork Pride. Doors open at 6pm, screening at 7:30pm @ Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue
Join us at a fundraiser for the 519 thrown by the wonderful Brenna MacCrimmon: an evening of craftivist inspiration with Kirk Dunn. There’s so much happening! Doors open at 6, bring your knit, crochet, embroidery, quilting, and mending and enjoy a beverage from the bar. You can also browse the stash sale table - 100% proceeds to The 519.
At 7:30pm, Kirk will give a short talk about The Patchwork Pride Project, a giant knitted Pride flag yarn bomb which he designed and which was community knitted. Then there will be a screening of a short documentary made by content creator Neville Madill about The Patchwork Pride Project’s voyage to London to be exhibited at Canada House.
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
It’s publishing day for Lost in France! Happiness.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026 – Lost in France book launch 6-8pm @ Noonan’s Pub, 141 Danforth Avenue, Toronto
The funny, smart, incomparable Nathan Whitlock is joining me to host the book launch for Lost in France. Fun fact: aside from being a great author himself, and coordinator for Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program, and hosting the fab author podcast What Happened Next where he puts out interviews with Canadian authors every Monday (you can see Nathan is a total slouch), Nathan is also the drummer in a very fun band called The Approximators. Check out their appearance schedule here.
So join us on Tues June 30, 6-8pm, at Noonan’s Pub, 141 Danforth, very close to Broadview TTC Station. Nathan will not be playing the drums at the book launch. He’ll be chatting with me and then raising a glass and eating French cheese with us all. Who doesn’t like French cheese?
Thursday, July 16, 2026, 6:30-8:30pm - The Stirling Book Company
I’ll be at the wonderful Stirling Book Company on July 16, 6:30-8:30pm, hosting, along with bookstore owner Tracey Starrett, an Evening in France. There will be French refreshments, a make-believe-you’re-in-France photo booth, a make-your-own French bookmark station, and an author chat and slide show where I will regale the audience with stories of the fun and unpredictable adventures Kirk and I went on to research Lost in France, during which he really, really hoped we weren’t about to buy a one-euro house that needed tons of reno work like Marlow does in the book. Kirk will be there too, hanging out, knitting, and rolling his eyes liberally. Please join us.
Looking forward to next time, when I will share the interview with actor Kate Udall.
Keeping reading and writing,
Claire