by Writing Workshops Staff
2 hours ago
When Samantha Silva describes her relationship with self-promotion, she does so with the self-deprecating charm that infuses all her work. "I'm terrible at self-promotion," she admits, "even though the next most important job of a writer (after writing a book) is getting the word out that you did." Fortunately for her readers, she's emerged from the writing cave with news worth celebrating: her third novel, Sometime This Century, is coming from HarperCollins in June.
Samantha first joined the WritingWorkshops.com community in July 2023, attending our online Zoom seminar, Main Character Syndrome: How to Use Social Media to Write Compelling Stories with Amber Sparks. The following spring, she traveled to Ireland for our Writing Workshops Dublin retreat.
For those unfamiliar with Samantha's work, her credentials are extraordinary. Her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol, has been in print for eight years and is approaching 100,000 copies sold—a milestone reached by only two percent of published books. Anthony Doerr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of All the Light We Cannot See, praised it as "charming, comic, and ultimately poignant." Her second novel, Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft, cemented her reputation for breathing new life into beloved literary figures. She's also a 2022 Bread Loaf Fellow and a former Idaho Commission on the Arts Literary Fellow, with screenplays sold to Paramount, Universal, and New Line Cinema.
Her new book, Sometime This Century, is a time-travel Regency rom-com with a fascinating origin story: it began life as a screenplay Samantha sold to Universal Pictures twenty-five years ago. Though the film was never made, she retained the novel rights and eventually found herself adapting the story during a bout of writer's block. "I ended up having an absolute ball doing it," she says, "falling for its characters all over again."
The novel promises the wit and warmth readers have come to expect from Samantha's work. She describes it as a story for lovers of Jane Austen, historical fiction, romance, and comedy—"broad when it's funny, but there's a corker of a love story at its center." Fans of Pride and Prejudice will find echoes in the central romance, while the tale of two very different sisters evokes Sense and Sensibility in a modern guise.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dickens and His Carol continues to find new readers year after year. "It's just plain joy that people keep finding the book or the book finds them," Samantha reflects. She still receives emails from readers who revisit the novel every December, share it with family and friends, or choose it for their book clubs during the holiday season.
We're proud to count Samantha among our alumni and to have been a short stop on her incredible writing journey. With three acclaimed novels, a stage adaptation, and a devoted readership, she exemplifies what's possible when talent meets dedication. We can't wait to see where her storytelling takes us next.
Ready to write your own success story? Explore our online creative writing workshops and discover why writers at every stage—from emerging voices to bestselling novelists—choose WritingWorkshops.com. With expert instruction, a supportive community, and a track record of helping writers achieve their goals, your breakthrough could be just one workshop away.
