‘The Story of a Town and Its Choir’: Read Our Q&A with Bestselling Author Sophie Green

Briefly tell us about your book.

It’s the story of a town and its choir, and especially of five women who are members of that choir: Victoria, the town matriarch, who has recently had a shock because her husband has left her for the mayor’s wife; Gabrielle, her opera-singer cousin who is trying to readjust to life in the town she left long ago; Alex, a high-school maths teacher from Sydney who thinks living in Bellbird River will help her reconnect with her 11-year-old daughter; Debbie, who has made some mistakes that have changed her life forever, and not in a way she likes; and Janine, who spends the present trying to grapple with the past and meanwhile keeps the town in baked goods. The choir is where they gather each week but they all have their own connections with other people.

What inspired the idea behind the book?

Bellbird River is a fictional town that lies down the road from Tamworth, New South Wales. Several years ago I was in a covers band that played at the Tamworth Country Music Festival – although I was a snob about country music. That lasted about five seconds once we arrived in town. The festival was the best thing I’d ever been to, and every year I’ve been since – including this year – it becomes more joyous and more enriching, especially so because I have been writing about Australian country music for over a decade. Once I had an idea for a novel with music in it – a choir, as it turned out – the only place to set it was near Tamworth. Being in the band, playing instruments and singing as I still do, and knowing as much as I do about Australian country music, all put the fabric into this story. Plus I was in choirs throughout primary and secondary school.

What is something that has influenced you as a writer?

I have learnt a lot from the Australian country music artists I’ve been able to interview and write about over the past few years. They are dedicated to storytelling and also to their audiences; they want to communicate and they also want to entertain and bring joy to people while providing something that is of meaning – their songs. More than anything else, I think those things have influenced me in my own job as a storyteller. I’d like my stories to be meaningful and also entertaining.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring writers, what would it be?

Just start. Whatever you write is not going to be perfect, because here’s the thing: it never is. But if you don’t start you won’t know what your idea could become – and you won’t know what you could become.

What’s your daily writing routine like and what are you working on at the moment?

I don’t have a routine. I fit in writing where and when I can around other commitments, which include full-time work. But it helps that I don’t believe in there being a right amount of time or a right place to work – I grab the time I can and I sit (sometimes stand) wherever I can. Whatever I’m working on is always in the back of my mind so I just switch into it once I have that opportunity to write. And what I’m working on now is next year’s novel, set on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. That’s all I can say for now!

Buy a copy of The Bellbird River Country Choir here.