Author Biography: Mala Naidoo
I am an Australian thriller fiction author who dabbles in poetry as inspiration for my fiction. My characters are indomitable and vulnerable women in diverse cultural contexts. I was born and raised in South Africa during the Apartheid era, which is the impetus for the stories I create. During my teenage years, Crime and Detective Fiction held my reading attention. After many years of teaching and motivating students to trust their imagination and creative capacity, I began writing my own stories. Stories that I left bubbling on the back burner for over a decade. Once I allowed myself the time and space to tap into my imagination and creativity, unheard voices came calling. Currently, I teach part-time, work as a university advisor, and write.
My current project, The Bardo Trilogy book 1, Aurora Days, and book 2, Gallery Nights, was released in 2020. I am currently working on the third book in The Bardo Trilogy.
Aurora Days (Book 1—The Bardo Trilogy)
Book one in The Bardo Trilogy, Aurora Days, has the main character, Viola Bardo, pursuing her second life calling as a vigilante law agent. Her passion is restoring justice to the vulnerable living on the fringes of society, or those with high ranking, social, educational, or political portfolios. As a music teacher and closet poet, Viola Bardo has had her fair share of life’s challenges. With creativity in her blood and justice in her soul she takes on the investigation the mysterious, doyenne, Tempest, throws at her. My target audience is largely women, categorized as Australasian Women’s fiction.
Viola, daughter of the once acclaimed artist, Placido Bardo, lived in Mozambique, and migrated to Australia with her parents. Her father returned to his ancestral home in Portugal when his younger sister, Lorenza, mysteriously disappeared, and his divorce eroded his confidence. Viola’s bond with her father and his much-loved sister juxtaposed to her distant relationship with her Mozambican French mother, shapes her endearing relationship with her beloved papa.
As an exchange music teacher, Viola journeys to Greece in Aurora Days. Within the hallways, classrooms, and staff room at Aurora College she maneuvers the investigation on an alleged kidnapping. A bizarre twist of events links Germany and Greece to a domestic fiasco.
Will she blow her cover and never teach again?
Aurora Day (Blurb)
All she had was twelve days…
Aurora Days (Blurb)
The dashing Sebastian’s arrival as her backup agent is the charming younger brother, she wished she had as an only child.
My passion for turning adversity to advantage by serving those most in need triggered my inspiration for Aurora Days. My writing mission is, in our angst and joy we are one under the sky of humanity. This stems from the debilitating consequences of apartheid and the strength and struggles of indigenous women I was witness to in my formative and early adult years. Working as a teacher in secular and non-secular educational institutions heightened my awareness on the multifaced roles teachers play in their interactions with students. I include my celebration of such teachers in the novel’s afterword. What I hope readers will gain from reading, Aurora Days is the understanding that challenges are surmountable, and that one’s background is not a precursor to what an individual can accomplish.
Is it a world to hide virtues in?
Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare
Aurora Days is exciting, challenging, and confronting, with a hint of romance in exposing human foibles, reiterating perfection in imperfection in characters’ interactions with each other. Travel through beautiful Athens with Viola and Sebastian in their pursuit of justice.
Aurora Days is available on all retail platforms, in print and eBook.
For more on my books please visit My Books. or join me on Facebook and Instagram.
Happy reading and writing.
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Viola Bardo is an intriguing character & her pursuit of justice makes Aurora Days a must read.