When I was a child, I used to dream of three things: to time-travel extensively, to wake up one day in medieval England transformed into a boy who served Richard Lionheart or to one day discover I could run so fast the ground blurred under my feet. The time-travel thing never happened. Neither did the page thing. Maybe a good thing, as should I have ended up in medieval England it is likely I would not have met Richard—a most absentee king—but rather his not-so-honorable brother, John. As to running like the wind, well I did run a lot. And yes, I was very fast. But not that fast.

That speed-running dream has never quite left me. When no one sees, I will take off up a steep incline and pretend I am as fast as a cheetah. Anyone seeing me would probably fall over backwards with laughter at the likeness, because whatever else I might be these days, I am not a graceful cat streaking along the ground.

The benefit of being an author is that one can live vicariously through one’s characters. My urge to time-travel has resulted in a series called The Graham Saga which features reluctant time-traveler Alex Lind, her 17th century husband Matthew Graham, and their many, many adventures in Scotland and Maryland of the 1600s. That medieval page dream of mine led to a four-book series set in the 14th century (I have long since fallen out of love with Richard. Gallant warrior, yes, brilliant general, absolutely, but good king? Not so much…) With my characters in The King’s Greatest Enemy I have donned gambesons and kirtles (not in combination), I have buckled sword belts, pondered how best to vary the Lenten fare of fish, more fish even more fish.

In my latest series, The Wanderer (of which A Flame Through Eternity is the third), I have at last achieved that dream of running so fast everything but the sound of my footfalls disappears, my vision narrowing into a chute as I thunder towards the goal. Okay, I’m not the one doing the running. Helle Madsen does, a young woman who has recently had her life significantly turned upside down by events so strange she very much wants to laugh them off as figments of her imagination. Except that she can’t, seeing as she is right in the middle of things.

Helle is a financial professional. She is happy among excel sheets and forecasts, enjoys digging into Share Purchase Agreements and turn-around plans—as financial people do. Pragmatic and successful, she was thrilled when she was offered an opportunity to go to London and work at a firm called Woolf & Partner. Turns out Mr Woolf is the real wolf-in-fleece type. Turns out Mr Woolf recognizes Helle the moment he sees her, even if she knows for a fact that she’s never met him before. Turns out—fortunately for Helle—that a certain Jason also recognizes her and is determined to keep her safe from Woolf. This time round, seeing as he failed spectacularly 3 000 years ago…

So, one moment Helle is your normal ambitious person. The next, she has to come to terms with the fact that she is a reincarnated soul—and a very, very old soul at that—who finds herself caught up in an epic love story spanning three millennia. Unfortunately, it’s not your “let’s ride out into the sunset and live happily ever after” love story. I mean, that would be dead boring, wouldn’t it?

Helle is a rational creature, so she remains very skeptic of this whole multiple life story that Jason tells her—but she did recognize Jason when they first met, even if she can find no feasible explanation for why she did. After all, she’s never clapped eyes on this tall handsome man with hair the color of mahogany before. Except that it seems she has—three thousand years ago! It makes Helle’s head ache.

I enjoy making my protagonists suffer. I believe it builds character. Plus, I had this dream about running like the wind… Which is how Helle, to her horrified astonishment, discovers she can run so fast people call her a freak. A useful talent, it turns out, but one Helle has major problems accepting—or even talking about. Where Jason sees the beauty in her speed, is awed by her feline grace, by the power that surges through her, Helle mostly wants to find a duvet and pull it over her head and pretend none of this weird stuff ever happened. Unfortunately for her, she’s not the one writing her story.

I still have those moments when I wish I had the speed of a stampeding zebra. Just as I would like to be able to dive like a dolphin. Which is why, dear peeps, if you ever see me on a beach, you will find me tumbling in the waves, pretending I can indeed leap out of the water as gracefully as a dolphin does. If I’m not practicing my running skills, that is!

And as to what happens to Helle, her re-discovered ancient lover and their personal nemesis, Sam Woolf, theirs is a story laced with adventure, romance and quite a lot of tension. There are times when Helle wants to flee it all. But she can’t, not now that she has found Jason again. That, dear readers, is most fortunate for me: without Helle, there would be no epic time-spanning love story to tell!

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Anna has recently released A Flame Through Eternity, the third in her Romantic Suspense series, The Wanderer.

When she isn’t writing contemporary suspense with a time travelling twist, Anna is usually visiting her favourite historical periods, namely the 17th century and the 14th century. And yes, she is quite convinced people were as much about love back then as we are now!

Find out more about Anna on www.annabelfrage.com.

Or pop by her Amazon page and browse through her books, http://Author.to/ABG