LITERARY AGENT ANGST In 2011 I completed a narrative non-fiction book on a controversial, 19th century criminal case. The events in The Water Doctor’s Daughters take place in France and England, and as an opening gambit I aim high and email a query letter to one of
Read more →Sixty years ago I was a wide eyed, sharp eared kid growing up on Tasmania’s North West Coast. One weekend my mother and I visited her brother’s family in a nearby town. Over afternoon tea my aunt described an incident that had taken place a few days
Read more →SCHOOLGIRLS IN EXILE My book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, is the biography of a dysfunctional family, but it is also Victorian era true crime. It centres on the case of French born governess Mlle Celestine Doudet. In 1855 the governess was tried over the deaths of her
Read more →It’s an extraordinary thing having two very different books published in one year, and it would be quite impossible for me to choose my favourite. My first, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, has a special place in my heart due to its content. I became so emotionally involved
Read more →THE GENESIS OF THE LAUNCH I hadn’t considered a separate launch for The Water Doctor’s Daughters in Australia, but a few months ago a generous offer came from Sydney’s Ashfield Library to do a book signing. It was to be part of their very popular ‘Authors
Read more →THE SOOTHING LINIMENT THAT COULD LEAD TO DEATH There is a chapter in my true crime book The Water Doctor’s Daughters titled; AS EASY AS ABC. The letters are a reference to a popular 19th century rubbing liniment made from three powerful, but potentially fatal compounds;
Read more →Florence Campbell was born in Woolloomooloo, Sydney on September 5th 1845, the eldest daughter of Ann and Robert Campbell. Her father had made his fortune as a merchant, and in trading in gold after the big strike at Ophir in the Central West of New South Wales.
Read more →One of the true joys of writing narrative non-fiction is visiting all the places associated with the story. Of course the research for my book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, took me to Paris (such a chore..ha ha) Hastings and St Leonards, Malvern and Cheltenham. Accompanied by
Read more →In The Beginning..The Water Doctor’s Daughter’s When I was writing my true crime book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, I had a moment of panic and said to my husband Rob, ‘Oh dear, what if someone publishes this one day and I have to give talks about it?’
Read more →I thought I’d write a brief report on the official launch of The Water Doctor’s Daughters in Great Malvern. Editor Des was supposed to do it, but he was still in recovery from an unfortunate incident in London [see end of article]. WELL, THE BIG DAY DAWNED
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