Carol Cram

Carol M.Cram loves the arts, food, travel, and writing novels about people who follow their passions.

Carol writes about women in the arts in her first three award-winning novels of historical fiction, The Towers of Tuscany, A Woman of Note and The Muse of Fire, and matches her travel-inspired vignettes with pastel drawings created by her husband, Canadian artist Gregg Simpson in Pastel & Pen: Travels in Europe. In Love Among the Recipes, a woman searches for new passions amid the sights and tastes of Paris.

Carol expresses her enthusiasm for the written word, the arts, and her love of travel on Artsy Traveler (artsytraveler.com) and Art In Fiction (artinfiction.com), and on the Art In Fiction Podcast in her chats with authors who write novels inspired by the arts. She also teaches writing courses and mentors new authors--one of her favorite things to do.

In addition to writing fiction, Carol is the author of over sixty bestselling college textbooks in computer applications and communications for Cengage Learning and was also on faculty at Capilano University in North Vancouver for two over decades. She holds an MA in Drama from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. She lives with her husband, painter Gregg Simpson, on beautiful Bowen Island near Vancouver, BC, where she also teaches Nia, a holistic dance/fitness practice.

Love Among the Recipes

Women's Fiction

"Loaded with wit and charm, ... [t]his fabulous jaunt through the City of Lights will leave readers breathless and longing for more from Cram." - Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Discover love in all its flavors in this fun, food-infused romp through Paris that is as crisp, sweet, and smooth as the perfect macaron.

Paris may be for lovers, but cookbook author Genna McGraw is definitely not looking for love. She’s looking for escape and she's looking for a good runny Brie to pair with a smooth Bordeaux. Where better than Paris?

In Love Among the Recipes, Genna goes to the City of Light to get away from her philandering husband and write a “crossover cookbook/guidebook” that matches Parisian sights such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre with recipes for bistro-style French dishes. She also dabbles in romance with dishy French lawyer Pierre Leblanc and makes friends at her French class with Colorado transplant Marsha Renfrew and her snooty English boyfriend.

And then there’s big, blunt Bill Turner from Australia. Does he really eat crocodile steaks for tea?

But when Genna’s family crashes her new life in Paris, a crisis forces her to choose how she wants to live. Will she have the courage to embrace an uncertain future and risk losing everything?

The Towers of Tuscany

Historical Fiction

Sofia is trained in secret as a painter in her father’s workshop during a time when women did not paint openly. She loves her work, but her restless spirit leads her to betray her extraordinary gifts to marry a man who comes to despise her for not producing a son.

After Sofia’s father is crushed by his own fresco during an attack motivated by a vendetta, Sofia realizes she must escape her loveless marriage. She flees to Siena, where, disguised as a boy, she paints again. When her work attracts the notice of a nobleman who discovers the woman under the dirty smock, Sofia is faced with a choice that nearly destroys her.

Meticulously researched settings and compelling characters are united with a strong heroine in this rich portrait of medieval Italy.​

A Woman of Note

Historical Fiction

Virtuoso pianist Isabette Grüber captivates audiences in the salons and concert halls of early nineteenth-century Vienna. Yet in a profession dominated by men, Isabette longs to compose and play her own music—a secret she keeps from both her lascivious manager and her resentful mother. She meets and loves Amelia Mason, a dazzling American singer with her own secrets, and Josef Hauser, an ambitious young composer. But even they cannot fully comprehend the depths of Isabette’s talent.

Her ambitions come with a price when Isabette embarks on a journey that delicately walks the line between duty and passion. Amid heartbreak and sacrifice, music remains her one constant. With cameos from classical music figures such as Chopin, Schubert, and Berlioz, A Woman of Note is an intricately crafted and fascinating tale about one woman’s struggle to find her soul’s song in a dissonant world.​​

The Muse of Fire

Historical Fiction

Shakespeare's sweeping themes meet the wit of Jane Austen in a mashup of theater riots and drawing room angst.

Based on real events, The Muse of Fire takes readers behind the scenes of London's massive Covent Garden theater at the dawn of the 19thCentury. The intrigue, romance, and betrayal swirling around the actors offstage rivals anything they must perform onstage.

After the death of her mother, Grace Johnson follows her abusive father to London and discovers a passion for the stage. But she must fight against social norms to find her place as a Shakespearean actress in the fraught world of early 19th Century theater.

Aided by Ned, a foundling who takes charge backstage at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Grace becomes ensnared by intrigues and setbacks that mar the pathway to stardom she craves.

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Old Price Riots of 1809, Grace and Ned find common purpose in a quest that threatens to tear both their worlds apart.

Winner of the Bronze for Best Historical Fiction from the Independent Publishers' Awards and First in Category for the Goethe Awards.​