Just an Ordinary Family is a story of family ties, betrayal and sacrifice. Can you tell us a bit more about the book?
Thanks so much for having me! Alice and Libby Hunter are twins who grew up in a stable and loving family with plenty of opportunities, although Alice has been in her sister’s shadow all her life . Now in their thirties, Libby has everything Alice does not—a career, a relationship and children. Jess has been Libby’s best friend from the moment they met in year seven at high school. She too is kicking more of life’s goals than Alice, who feels this keenly when she’s forced to move back to her childhood town and home. Karen Hunter, the twin’s mother, and a defacto mother to Jess, is sixty, reluctantly retired and fighting off the past. All of these women find themselves caught up in a situation that blows their family apart and forces them question everything they’ve ever believed and held dear.
What inspired this novel?
Female friendship has always fascinated me. Many women have a ‘BFF’ to the exclusion of others. I wanted to explore the glue that holds that relationship together and the situations that might blow it apart, as well as partners’ reactions to it. The second spark was the number of my extended family members meeting their partners through online dating. I wanted to examine the challenges involved in meeting someone without being introduced by friends or through work. The third spark was my faulty reproductive system. That and the fact that, on average, women have around 450 periods in over thirty-seven years. How can that not have an impact on women’s lives, with or without pathology? Never fear, there are also men in this book who have their own issues around family, fertility and fatherhood so there’s something for everyone!
Can you tell us about your research process for this book?
The novel is set on the Gippsland lakes—the riviera of Victoria. It’s a glorious part of the world although tragically, it has recently been hammered by bushfires. I spent some lovely days in the area both on land and on the water sailing around the lakes, because Libby’s husband Nick owns a boat hire company! I also traversed the online dating world by signing up to a few apps and websites to understand how they worked. I shocked my sons, but I promise I didn’t engage in any ghosting or negging. I also interviewed family members on their experiences, some of which were so bad I couldn’t have thought them up…cutting nails on a first date in a restaurant!?! Alice is an artist and that’s not a natural fit for me so I spent time with artists and sculptors learning about their world and being awed by their talent. I also spoke to a doctor, an accountant, a company that hires out boats and greyhound lovers. I also drew on my previous job working with families and the fraught situations I’d been party too and I listened to a lot of podcasts. By far, the sailing was the most fun!
What do you hope the reader will take away from this book?
I think most of us want black and white situations so we can make a quick and easy decision and take a side, e.g. I support A and abhor B. But moral and ethical dilemmas are by nature a thousand shades of grey. I hope my readers finish the book and think about trust, betrayal and regret. That they consider the impact on our lives of our choice to forgive or not to forgive. Is there a difference between a stupid mistake and a calculated betrayal? Does someone have the right to feel betrayed when they’ve lied themselves? Who is judged more harshly when moral and ethical lines are blurred? Is the victim always innocent? You know, the easy questions…!
What is something that has really influenced you as a writer?
This took a bit of thinking about! I think it’s life experience. I’m a mother, wife, daughter, friend, volunteer, worked for many years as a nurse and am a keen reader. All of it has influenced the way I view the world. I’m fascinated by what motivates people and the resulting behaviour. Between working as a community health nurse and experiences within my own family, I’ve walked with people in almost every situation from the joy of delivering a baby to the grief of divorce and death and every other celebration and heartache in between.
What’s your daily writing routine like and what are you working on at the moment?
I work every day, full days during the week and half days on the weekend. There’s nothing romantic about it…my garret is light-filled! Most days, it’s a slog but there are those occasional moments of wonder when the words flow. I wish I could harness them so they stayed around longer. Work is not all creative though. Each novel goes through three rounds of edits. There are cover discussions, promotional writings like this one, social media commitments and then the super fun stuff like book tours and festivals when I get to have face-to-face time with my readers. There’s also the research when I’m forced to leave the office and go sailing. So when you’re reading about Nick’s yacht Freedom, think of me on the Gippsland Lakes watching the fish jump and the pelican catching them.
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