Claire Anders Books In Order

Publication Order of Thistle Bay Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Claire Anders
Claire Anders lives with her daughter and husband in Edinburgh. When she is not busy writing, she can typically be found walking her dog in the nearby woods or with chocolate in one hand and a book in the other.

Taking a walk in the woods helps Claire when she finds a plot hole in her work in progress and she is unable to figure out how to fix it.

“Between Moons” wasn’t just Claire’s first novel, but also the first historical fiction novel she wrote. She also pens contemporary feel good fiction with just a touch of romance. Each one of her novels features strong friendships as well as supportive communities with one or two secrets thrown into the mix.

She wrote the first draft of “Between Moons” out longhand completely. She scribbled it all down on paper during the week, and then typed her pages on a Sunday night.

After that novel, she typed her books right into her laptop. Even though she does like to have a new notebook for each book for reminders, planning, plotting, and ideas which will come to her whenever she is not logged in. Claire finds she thinks better with a pen and some paper.

Claire would love to be one of those authors able to start at chapter one and write the entire thing in sequence. But that is just not her. She begins with this set plan, however it soon morphs into a hot mess and then it requires a bit of untangling.

It’s not uncommon for her dining room table to be covered in post it notes with scenes written on them, scenes that she needs to fit together in order to form a cohesive story.

One of Claire’s favorite author tasks is getting to name her characters. Sometimes the name comes first, and then she will flesh the character out more. But other times, they will hide from her. She can have a whole entire character biography written up and a few chapters under her belt before she is able to find the right name for them.

She will research the top 100 names in the country and the year of her character’s birth. Thank goodness the internet exists. Some name will either jump out at her or she tries a few names and tries to see which one actually works best.

Claire knows when she has found the right name when the character refuses to leave her alone. When she finally lands on their name, only then will they find their voice and their story gets much easier to actually write.

“Between Moons” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2021. During the dark days of war, who exactly can you trust?

When Marlene Villeret, a journalist, parachutes down into Nazi-occupied France by moonlight, she has been tasked by SOE with observing the French way of life until her planned departure at the next full moon. With swastikas being draped around Paris and families being torn out of their homes in front of helpless neighbors and friends, Marlene wants to do more with her little time in this city.

However when she forms this bond with a German soldier named Niklas, it gives her cause to question everything that she believed she knew about this war.

Marlene, with every passing day, gets drawn further into danger. When she gets betrayed and her secret is revealed, she is no longer sure who to trust and where she can turn. Can Marlene trust her good instincts and get to safety without anybody getting hurt?

The plot is well written, these characters are all well described, and it’s such a gripping story, making it tough for readers to put down. Claire makes your feel the stress the French people felt at this time, and you hold your breath while others get dragged away by the German soldiers to their horrible fate.

“Sunrise in Thistle Bay” is the first novel in the “Thistle Bay” series and was released in 2022. Fall in love with Thistle Bay. Cat Radcliffe spent a childhood in care and it left her craving a place to call home and connection. When she takes this assignment for a company in the Scottish seaside town, her focus is just on doing the work well in order to get a good reference for her fledgling copywriting business.

Nick Bell has been living in Thistle Bay his whole life. His previous girlfriend fled to London in order to escape from small town living and he vowed not to ever get involved with another city girl. When he meets Cat, he knows that he should just ignore his growing attraction for the girl that has lived in eight cities in as many years.

Right when Cat starts making plans for the future, this explosive secret goes and shatters her entire world and sends her running on back to the city.

“Sunrise in Thistle Bay” is a story that is all about forgiveness, family, and self discovery.

Thistle Bay comes to life in this uplifting story. These characters are fantastic and by the end you really want to know more about each and every one of them.

“New Beginnings” is a short story in the “Thistle Bay” series and was released in 2022. Josef’s wife of fifty years dies unexpectedly dies, his plans for his future get thrown into disarray. His four grown up kids show up to deal with the practicalities of death and where he can possibly go from here. However it isn’t long before he is feeling smothered and longs to escape.

Eva was the adventurous one in their marriage and now Josef’s lost without her. While his kids plan Josef’s future out for him, he has this choice he must make. Should he just accept what he sees as the inevitability of old age or can he possibly find a life after death?

This short story is the second book in the “Thistle Bay” series, yet can still be read as a stand alone story.