Absolutely everything.
In Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2, one of Niall Quinn’s major creations is a table made from a single bark to bark piece of Huon pine (pictured on my website jenniferrainesauthor.com).
The Huon pine or Macquarie pine, Lagarostrobos franklinii, is a species of conifer native to the wet southwestern corner of Tasmania, Australia. While known as a pine, it’s actually a podocarp (Podocarpaceae), not a true pine (Pinaceae). It’s the sole species in the genus Lagarostrobos. Huon pines are among the oldest living and rarest species of trees in the world and are now critically endangered. Individual trees have been identified as over 2,000 years old. The Huon pine has an incredibly slow growth rate of about 0.3 — 2mm per year, taking approximately 1,000 years to reach a height of 30m and a diameter of 1 metre.
Niall’s rich, creamy, yellow wood table has a width of approximately 72 cm, meaning you’re looking at a piece of wood hundreds of years old. I’ll add a caveat here: this piece of wood was harvested in the 19thcentury and held within the woodworker’s family for several generations until it was turned into a table.
Niall’s table is a simple design involving three pieces of Huon pine and an ironbark beam. It’s stunning because of the simplicity of the design and the quality of the timber, and is a privilege for anyone to own.
So, that’s what’s special about Niall’s table.
The table also revealed Niall’s passion to me, which is the crafting of beautiful, yet practical objects using old and recycled timber.
Niall Quinn—struggling woodworker, man of integrity, sexy beast seemed to invite the trope opposites attract. That’s how I met Liùsaidh (Lucy) McTavish, also interested in the arts, but in her case she values and preserves antiques. Lucy chooses the old vs the new. Niall’s creations force her to reassess her perception of timelessness.
Lucy took me in other directions as well. She’s able to tell the difference between Royal Doulton Art Deco and Minton Pink Cockatrice tableware. She recalls that in eighteenth-century France, frames for paintings stood as works of art in their own right, partly furniture and partly sculpture, and sometimes worth more than the painting. She has no trouble at all recognising a Maud Bowden art deco vase circa 1912 using brush lining rather than tube-lining and beadwork for decoration. Don’t you just love a woman who knows her subject!
Do you have a favourite object passed through generations in your family? A lot of people don’t. Treasures can be lost to poverty, war, theft, simply moving house or one generation deciding something is worthless. Value and sentiment are personal to each individual.
Ultimately, Quinn, by design is a romance, so the story focuses on the two main leads, Niall Quinn and Liùsaidh (Lucy) McTavish, who are attracted, but have so much happening right now, love might have to wait. The research for this book took me down fascinating rabbit holes. I hope you enjoy what I found.
June 2024 Giveaway: Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1
And the winner is Kirsten H.
Kirsten already has a paperback copy of Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1, so has chosen a paperback copy of Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2. Congratulations, Kirsten.
Australian Romance Readers Association (ARR2025)
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be signing at A Romantic Rendezvous in Sydney in March 2025. I can’t wait to see you all again.
Tickets will go on sale in September. In the meantime you could win a Golden Ticket to the city of your choice. You can enter the giveaway here: https://bit.ly/ARR2025GT Then join us in the Attendees group for all author announcements: https://www.facebook.com/groups/arr2025attendees
Find me on
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthorjen/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jenniferrainesauthor
- Goodreads—https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22577889.Jennifer_Raines
- Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-raines
- Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
- Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
- Planting Hope (episode 101)
- The Anderson Sisters (episode 54 Taylor’s Law and 80 Grace Under Fire) http://www.dkpwriter.com/indie-reads-aloud-podcast.html
You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.
Jennifer Raines 