Australian author Alison Stuart is the author of historical romance novels such as The Postmistress and, most recently, The Goldminer’s Sister. Alison began her writing journey halfway up a tree in the school playground with a notebook and a dream. Her father’s passion for history and her husband’s love of adventure and the Australian bush led to a desire to tell stories of Australia’s past. She has travelled extensively and lived in Africa and Singapore. Before turning to writing full time, she enjoyed a long and varied career as a lawyer, both in private practice and in a range of different organisations, including the military and the emergency services. Alison lives in a historic town in Victoria.
Today, Alison is on the blog to tell us all about her new book and all things reading and writing. Read on!
Alison Stuart
Please tell us about your latest book
The Goldminer’s Sister is the second book set in the fictional goldmining town of Maiden’s Creek – it’s not strictly a sequel although some of the characters will be familiar to readers of The Postmistress. For new readers it is a stand-alone.
Newly arrived from England to join her brother who manages one of the gold mines, Eliza Penrose not only finds she has a tragic mystery to resolve but she becomes caught in a web of lies and deceit. There is only one person in the town she can turn to, Alec McLeod, the superintendent of the Maiden’s Creek Mine who has his own battles to fight for the health and safety of the miners.
What do you love so much about writing?
The answer is simple. I love telling stories … the sort of stories I like to read … rattling good yarns with plenty of adventure, romance, a mystery to solve and a satisfying end. And the reward, for me, are the reviews and the private notes from readers telling me how much they have enjoyed my story – that, more than anything, makes it the best career in the world!
What does a typical writing day look like for you?
Although I would call myself a morning person, I have found it works best to get all the chores, exercise and external calls on my time over and done with in the morning. I eat an early lunch and settle to work in the afternoon. Providing I don’t disappear down too many rabbit holes of research or social media, I can normally get a good three hours of productive work (and make my daily word count). This leaves me time to attend to other writerly business and I can generally shut down the computer about five. I have never been one of those people who can work late into the night. I prefer to spend my evenings with some needlework (and the TV).
What’s the first thing you do after you’ve delivered a finished book?
After I have fallen into my armchair with a well-earned gin and tonic … I tidy my office and permit myself a few days off to catch up with neglected household and family, and then it’s time to start something new and fresh!
What’s one bit of writing advice that’s stuck with you?
My favourite piece of advice and one I always pass on to aspiring authors: The first draft of your book is just that … your first draft. It is you telling yourself the story. It is not going to be a beautiful piece of literary gold. What is important is that it is ‘book shaped’, i.e. it has a beginning, a middle and – most importantly – an end. I have seen too many aspiring authors with the most perfectly polished first three chapters but nothing else. Once you have the rough story and a structure, then you start the best part of the writing process … the revisions. That is where your story comes to life.
And finally … name five books that you love or that inspire you and tell us why you love them!
This is like trying to choose your favourite child and these days I am afraid to admit I am a ‘read a few pages and then go to sleep’ sort of reader. So these are the books I have read in recent years that have kept the light on into the night!
The Wolf Hall trilogy: They are a challenge to read but there is a reason why Mantel has won the Booker. The writing is dense and lyrical, and flows with a rhythmic beat.
Jane Harper: I have literally ‘glomped’ her books as they have come out. I read a lot of mystery books (more than I do romance) and hers just keep me turning the pages. The Lost Man is the best so far.
Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies: This was the first Moriarty I had read and I fell into the story in the mistaken belief it was going to be a light, amusing read but the complex tendrils of the plot just wrapped themselves around me drawing me into a dark tale of abuse and betrayal.
My brother gave me Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami for Christmas. Probably not a book I would have picked up myself and it is another dense literary read but it is so compelling. If you don’t know it, it is a retelling of the Oedipus myth through a 15-year-old runaway and a strange old man with the ability to talk to cats. How the different paths of this unlikely pair intersect is one of the reasons to keep reading.
Finally… something light and another series on my ‘reread shelf’: The Amelia Peabody Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. Set in the world of archaeology at the turn of the twentieth century, Amelia, her husband Emerson and assorted family members solve crimes with panache and a British stiff upper lip, that just keeps me smiling as much as it does trying to guess the ‘who done it’.
Thanks Alison!
—The Goldminer’s Sister by Alison Stuart (Harlequin Books Australia) is out now.
The Goldminer's Sister
1873. Eliza Penrose arrives in the gold mining town of Maiden's Creek in search of her brother, planning to make a new life for herself. Instead she finds a tragic mystery - and hints of betrayals by those closest to her.
Mining engineer Alec McLeod left Scotland to escape the memory of his dead wife and child. Despite the best efforts of the eligible ladies of Maiden's Creek, Alec is determined never to give his heart again...
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