Another master of ultra short fiction - and a former winner of the annual National Flash Fiction competition - is English born, Auckland-based Dione Jones. Now she's embraced long-form writing to produce her first novel The Alexandrite. On the grounds of a run down British stately home, a dead stranger with a cryptic letter in his pocket sets off a chain of events for the estranged family. The Alexandrite is also takes place in New Zealand, with the action taking place over several different time periods. Dione shares some of the secrets of the novel with Lynn Freeman The Alexandrite by Dione Jones is published by Cloud Ink Press.