Being fashionable in the 1900s
Fancy having your waist strangled by whalebone? Or using coal-heated tongs and risking your hair burning? At the turn of the century women's fashion was very feminine, but also restrictive and modesty prevailed. Long sleeved [...]
Conjuring fiction from family legend.
Quite often when I'm writing I'll recall a story my father told me, or dig through our archives and find a forgotten document as in the case of The Last Station, and presto. Rummaging through [...]
The Afghan Cameleers – Providing a vital service & yet the victims of prejudice
From the 1860s to the 1930s Afghan cameleers were indispensable in servicing Australia’s inland pastoral regions. Although known generically as Afghans these expert teamsters came from the North-West frontier province (then under British rule) now [...]
The Last Station – Why I wanted to write this novel
As March 1st is publication day for The Last Station., I thought I'd share why I wanted to write it. When it comes to deciding on the subject matter for a historical novel some of [...]
The Last Station – What’s it about!
The Last Station Well, here it is at last. My eleventh novel. Out March 1st. It took some wrangling to get this one into shape. The initial concept came to me some years ago, having [...]
The Last Station – Where to buy.
A few people have messaged me about where to buy a copy of The Last Station so I have attached this handy link below courtesy of my publisher Penguin Random House. If you click through [...]
The bank manager who paid off his gambling debt by manual labour.
The 1960s. Life in the bush is filled with busy work days, long hours spent out in the sun working with livestock, planting or harvesting crops, or in the paddock mending or constructing fences, sheds [...]
The Last Station – New release. Out 1st March.
Cover reveal! The Last Station will be out March 1st. It's been three years in the crafting, from initial concept to outline (6 if I count the initial idea), numerous drafts, a first chapter that [...]