New Zealand author signs audio deal for time travel trilogy

Auckland-based author and armed-robbery survivor Kirsten McKenzie has just inked a deal to turn her time travel trilogy into a series of audio books.

International audio producer, Podium Audio acquired the English language rights for McKenzie’s ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ series this week.

The trilogy covers three continents and two centuries and draws on her experiences as an antique dealer, going so far as to incorporate the armed robbery she lived through at the family antique store in Mt. Eden, Auckland in 2009.

The series takes the reader through the heady days of the 1800s gold rush on the West Coast of New Zealand, to the glamour of 1860s Victorian London, and also the sweeping majesty of the hill country stations in India as protagonist Sarah embarks on a quest to find her missing parents. The books have consistently ranked at the top of the Amazon charts for time travel.

The Historical Novel Society said of the trilogy ‘Kirsten McKenzie has written a very unusual novel: part time travel, part historical, and part antique review. [The] adventures are well researched and entertainingly written. A striking debut novel.’

McKenzie’s books have previously featured at Auckland Council’s White Night, the New Zealand Book Festival, Hamilton Book Month, Rotorua Noir, and at the Ngaio Marsh Award’s Mystery In the Library series. McKenzie has been invited to attend Newcastle Noir in the United Kingdom as a panelist in May 2020.

‘The approach from Podium took me by surprise. It’s an incredible opportunity for a Kiwi author,’ said McKenzie.

Podium Audio gained international notice when it took on one-time unknown author Andy Weir and turned his e-book, ‘The Martian’, into the most successful audiobook in the world. ‘The Martian’ film, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Matt Damon, went on to gross over US$630m worldwide.

McKenzie fought international crime for fourteen years as a Customs Officer before leaving to work in the family antique store. Now a full time author, she lives in Auckland with her family and alternates between writing her next thriller and completing her second time travel trilogy. Her bestselling horror novel ‘Painted’ was released in 2017, followed by a medical thriller ‘Doctor Perry’ in 2018.

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