International Women's Day this year was an interview for me at the Macquarie Regional Library at Dubbo NSW. It was a great opportunity to showcase the hardworking farmer, Flea, from my novel Shee-Oak. She was 'blasted from her comfort zone' when the younger woman, Mia, fatefully arrived on the farm in the middle of a drought. The road journey they took across the Hay Plain to Adelaide gradually revealed the depth of both women's flaws, Flea drinking too much, Mia over using prescription pills.
I explained the importance of research in the story's development of the two women. Not only information I needed to cover such a vast road trip, but also the research on facilities and services available in rural NSW to support someone recovering from a drug addiction.
Thank you to the staff at Macquarie Regional Library Dubbo, especially Vickey Foggin and Melissa Tonk, for making this possible.
Shee-Oak is available: https://www.geraldinestar.com/ or major distributors. In Dubbo: The Book Connection or the library.