What inspired the idea behind the book?
Kalgoorlie! It’s always been the stuff of legend in WA. It’s the wild west, and even though it’s changed a lot over the years, and there are too many stories there to tell, I knew I wanted to do something set in Kalgoorlie – and my author mate Rachael Johns was willing to head bush for a research trip! I picked up a tonne of books about Kalgoorlie, and I was taken with a couple of lines in one about a sex worker called Pansy Arlington from Kentucky, who suffered a terrible death. She must have lived an extraordinary, and ultimately tragic life, and I knew I wanted to include her. I was also taken with the story of Pitman and Walsh, the two Gold Detection Unit policemen who were murdered in the bush outside Kalgoorlie. The mystery and the scandal appealed to me, and the only challenge was finding a way to tie the two unrelated stories together. How to tie Pansy’s death to the murder of the policemen? You’ll have to wait and see!
What was research like for the book?
I’d love to be one of those wonderful authors who love research, but I actually suspect I hate it! Either there’s not enough material, and the thing you need to know isn’t easy to find – or there’s too much information, and the thing you need to know still isn’t easy to find! Kalgoorlie was both! Not many of the human stories online, but loads of general material in endless books of varying quality. There were too many stories and characters I couldn’t fit into this novel, and a lot of history passed through the region at the time, mostly omitted. There are a few reasons for this, but the most important is that the scope of the novel must be kept on the main characters and the development of the plot! It was painful to leave so many characters, and stories, behind.
Does the creative process get easier with each book?
Yes, and no! The creative process is weird. I’d say my first two rural novels were easier because they are contemporary – and based on my hometown. The War Nurses I’d say was harder, because the responsibility of writing about the murder of my great aunt Minnie and her fellow nurses during WW2 came with such a huge responsibility that it took me a long time to do it justice. This one is based on real events and some real people, but I’ve taken far more licence. That said, I was working with the theme of forgiveness and revenge – and it has taken a lot of writing to make it work, to bring the drama, the heart and the final reveal to the page. And there is still no better feeling than when the words are flowing, and the history is coming alive!
How did you think of the title of the book?
The title of the book was such a drama! (for me – I think everyone else was pretty chill about it!) The actual Pansy Arlington, who died on the goldfields and who lies in Kalgoorlie cemetery, was a sex worker originally around the Menzies area 130 kms north of Kal, entertaining gentlemen in what was essentially a series of hessian sacks surrounding a camp bed. It was jokingly referred to as Pansy Arlington’s Palace of Pleasure by the locals – and the very clever Victoria Purman suggested it would make a good title. I wholeheartedly agreed, and still do, but it wasn’t to be! We cycled through a few other options, including The Gold Diggers and The Goldrush Girls, before Rachael Johns and Tess Woods took the bull by the horns and wrestled with the issue over dinner (Mexican) until they came up with The Palace of Lost Virtue. I’m very grateful to them both!
Do you write about people you know? Or yourself?
I do sneak people (and dogs) I know into my novels! The War Nurses was very closely based on the Bangka Island massacre in which my great aunt Minnie Hodgson died, so obviously she’s in there, but I’ve also snuck names of other people into the cast, including the heroine, Margo, who was a lovely neighbour of mine when I lived in Brisbane. This novel, The Palace of Lost Virtue, is mostly filled with people who really lived in Kalgoorlie, from the women of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, to the real 1926 men involved in the murder investigation of Alexander Pitman and John Walsh, and the trial of Coulter and Treffene. I have to admit to being sentimental, so if you look, you’ll also see a couple of friends hiding in the pages… including a WA legend and newspaper cartoonist, my writing partner (and professional labrador) Possum, and my friend Alisdair, who tragically died rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. (And also recorded in the pages of the novel is my own Exchange Hotel meeting of one of my best friends of the past 30 years! Thanks Kalgoorlie!)
Buy a copy of The Palace of Lost Virtue here
About the Author
Anthea Hodgson is a country girl from the WA Wheatbelt. She worked as a radio producer in WA, NSW and Queensland before returning to WA, where she lives with her husband and two children. She is the author of The Drifter, The Cowgirl and the highly acclaimed 2023 historical novel based on the Bangka Island Massacre, The War Nurses. She is co-host of the Rachael Johns Book Club on facebook and the podcast Reading Between Deadlines.
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