Albion Park author Dell Brand is back to writing historical novels and she couldn’t be happier.
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The former Warilla and Lake Illawarra high school teacher is also happiest when writing novels for grown-ups.
Brand started her literary life as a children’s book author. Her first book History’s a Mystery had great reviews and was short-listed for the WAYRA in 2010.
‘’Many of the kids who read it asked for a sequel. So three more followed,’’ Brand said.
‘’But when the opportunity arose to write books for grown-ups I jumped at the chance. I particularly like historical novels.’’
Brand’s seventh book, Winfale Park, though was quite different. It is a contemporary drama about a family living in a caravan park in Warilla.
It is fitting then that the author and Shellharbour Council deputy mayor John Murray were at Warilla Library on Thursday to launch Brand’s eighth book, The Weif.
‘’I think it is a very interesting book,’’ Brand said. ‘’People who are interested in early Australian history will learn a little bit more about our history by reading the book. It gives an overview of what Australian life was like back in the 1860’s.
‘’I try to use as many names from the past as I can to anchor the book in history.
‘’So for example Sir Redmond Barry, who sentenced Ned Kelly to death, is one of the characters in my book.
‘’I try as much as I can to use historical people in the story and put my fictional characters around that.’’
The two main characters in The Weif come out to Australia on convict ships.
‘’Will and Lizzie Darling are both Irish, convicted of serious crimes but saved from the hangman’s noose by their youthfulness,’’ Brand said.
‘’Will is sent to Sydney while Lizzie enters the feared Female Factory in Hobart. As their lives cross, the reader is taken to Robe in South Australia, to Launceston, Melbourne and to the goldfields.’’
The Weif and Brand’s other books are available in local libraries, visiting her website at www.authordellbrand.com.au or calling 4256 3073.