Franciska Soares writes hauntingly poignant literary fiction featuring enigmatic histories, forgotten communities and spirited, unbowed women. The product of a strict Roman Catholic upbringing, she claims the characters who populate her books often give her a bit of a fright. That’s because Franciska is a conformist and hates confrontation. In fact, her friends and family claim she’s a Miss Goody-two-shoes and she doesn’t mind that portrayal one bit as it rings true. Her characters, on the other hand, love to challenge the status quo and are not averse to pushing the boundaries, sexual or ethical. They are imperfect and flawed and that’s what makes them human, and memorable, Franciska alleges.

When she isn’t reading or writing poetry and fiction (the iambic pace of her prose oftentimes resounds like a drumbeat), Franciska is probably walking the picturesque Frankton Arm in Queenstown meditating on her writing and the snow-capped Remarkables that tower over Lake Wakatipu, container gardening, or watching edgy black comedy on Netflix.

A Chemistry dropout, Franciska headed a faculty after having earned two Master’s degrees: in Commerce and in Education at uni. However, a flurry of life events – the loss of her hearing, COVID – freed her, she says to focus back on her very first loves, words and history. Back to writing. An itch exacerbated by the regret of omission that has led to the publication of this her debut novel: ‘They Whisper in My Blood’. A second novel ‘A Smatter of Minutes’ is already in the works as is an anthology of poetry entitled ‘Quiet Enough’.