When I set out to write my Australian-set family sagas, my focus was initially on the relationships between siblings, their partners and their parents. I'd planned for those relationships to drive the story forward. However, it quickly became apparent that the districts and the towns where I'd set the novels had become characters in their own right and integral to the books.
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| https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781489251190/daughter-of-mine/ |
Daughter of Mine is set in the Western District of Victoria, the home of the squattocracy. (Not Victorian? Think Bowral in NSW). The ancestors of many families still living in the district made a fortune in wool, built massive mansions and public buildings, entered politics and became the closest thing Australia had to an aristocracy. Today, their descendants still wield some social power in the district so that's exactly what my fictitious family does. Birrawarra's social hierarchy became an integral part of the plot and I had fun creating two glorious 1880s blue stone mansions for my families to live in.
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| https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781489246745/birthright/ |
Birthright is set in the heart of the north-east of Victoria because gourmet food, tourism, snow-skiing and a history of logging was a vital part of the book. Once again, the setting quickly became a character, adding an extra dimension to the book. I spent a lot of time craving gourmet goat's cheese, sourdough bread and red wine while I wrote Birthright!
When I was a child, I read Anne of Green Gables as well as the other five books in the series. Lucy Maud Montgomery used words to paint such vivid pictures of Prince Edward Island that I visited it as an adult. I know some readers have visited some of the mansions in the Western District as a result of reading Daughter of Mine.
When you read a novel, do you notice the setting? Have you ever visited a place because you have read about it in a novel?
Fiona Lowe has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker--an ideal careeer for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA award and the Australian RuBY award, Fiona's books are set in small country towns and feature real people facing tough choices and explore how family ties impact on their decisions.
You can find her at https://www.facebook.com/FionaLoweRomanceAuthor/,
https://twitter.com/fionalowe, https://www.instagram.com/fionaloweauthorrom/
and Goodreads. Daughter of Mine and Birthright (HQ Fiction) are her current releases.
Love to Love: the peace of the Victorian high country.
Love to Laugh: The Good Place on Netflix is making me smile a lot.
Love to Learn: I always thought latex was a man-made product but in the Age quiz I learned that latex is the white sap from plants like spurge and rubber trees.
