BEAUTY by Leigh Marsden

Leigh Marsden is a New Zealand novelist, who writes contemporary women's fiction.

BEAUTY BLURB
(AM Publishing New Zealand) - $28.50 (NZD)

It's easier to be happy when you don't know what's going on behind the scenes. There's a reason it's called blissful ignorance . . .

Mena joins a luxury motor yacht in the Mediterranean, enticed by rumours of the fast-paced, highly paid crew lifestyle. Shocked to uncover the literally sick secrets of yachting's achingly slim women and shattered by the reality of life onboard, Mena soon discovers that yachting's glamorous image is merely an illusion. During a cruise around the Balearic Islands, Mena and the yacht's crew and guests battle with illicit affairs, closet addictions and the pressure of maintaining a slender waistline. Enter a world where the quest for the body beautiful surpasses everything and nothing is as it seems.

A novel that takes a daring look at bulimia from behind closed bathroom doors, Beauty will make readers think twice about the grim reality lurking behind today's size-zero phenomenon, while shedding light on the sleep-deprived, often drug-fuelled existence of yacht crew.

NZ BOOK LAUNCHES

Taupo - Saturday 30 October 2010 3.30pm at Taupo Yacht Club
Auckland – Saturday 6 November 2010 3.30pm at the Lake House Arts Centre, Takapuna
Book is On Sale now online - www.leighmarsden.com

BIOGRAPHY:

Leigh Marsden was born in Taupo, in the North Island of New Zealand. She completed her secondary education in Taupo before attending Auckland University. She took a wide range of literature and linguistic papers, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Linguistics.

After traveling with her boyfriend, now husband, to England, she went back to Auckland University and gained a Masters Degree in Speech and Language Therapy. Two years after graduating, the travel bug struck again and Leigh set off to Europe with her husband.

The pair landed jobs on a superyacht based in the Mediterranean and Leigh began her short career as a yacht stewardess. During her first few months aboard, she completed her erotic novel Scarlet (yet to be published). Her experiences in the eighteen months onboard inspired her novel Beauty, which she wrote in Germany after leaving the yacht.

Leigh currently lives and writes in the small South Island village Geraldine.

www.leighmarsden.com