Loretta Goldberg writes historical literary fiction with battle scenes. She loves this genre because she finds in history’s frames, where events have beginnings and endings, a magical mirror in which we can see ourselves more fully. Her debut novel, The Reversible Mask: An Elizabethan Spy Novel, won the International Firebird Book Award in Historical Fiction and New Fiction in 2023. It also won a Book Excellence Finalists Award in 2019. Her second novel, Beyond the Bukubuk Tree: A World War II Novel of Love and Loss, won International Firebird Book Awards in 2023 in War Fiction.
Her characters are flawed strivers, often in love with the wrong person or at odds with social norms, or both, who get caught up in history’s iconic struggles and risk all to make a difference. Kings, queens, maids, Ottoman diplomats, spies, farmers, nurses–they all have nuance. Her world view evolved from living the highs and lows of being a professional pianist, tempered by the pragmatism of years as an insurance agent and registered representative with employee payrolls to meet, and diverse jobs she held along the way, including house painter, advertising bill collector and telemarketer.
An Australian-American, she earned a BA (Hons.) in English literature, Musicology and History at the University of Melbourne. She came to the USA on a Fulbright scholarship to study piano. Her CDs of new music are in over 700 libraries (See Discography). She premiered an unknown work by Franz Liszt on an EMI HMV (Australian Division) album, and her edition of the score for G. Schirmer is in its third edition.
Her published non-fiction consists of articles on financial planning, arts reviews and political satire. She lives with her spouse, commuting between New York City and Chester, Connecticut, where she enjoys family, friends and colleagues. For the New York Chapter of the Historical Novel Society, she started the chapter’s published writer public reading series at the Jefferson Market Library, New York City, and is the chapter’s current chair. She is a member of The Authors Guild and National League of American PEN Women.
