Fight to Coorah Creek
Flight to Coorah Creek is a romantic adventure set in the far outback of Queensland… on the edge of the great central Australian desert. Coorah Creek is a small community – full of unusual characters. It’s a place people go to hide. From other people – or from themselves.
The book is set around an air ambulance based at Coorah Creek – Jess Pearson is the pilot… and Adam Gilmore the doctor. As they set about saving other people’s lives… they may just save themselves.
Please tell us a bit about the character of Jessica Pearson, Adam Gilmore and Ellen Parkes.
All three of them have come to Coorah Creek to hide.
Jess is hiding form the media circus that has targeted her after her former boss smuggled illegal drugs on her plane. She is carrying a terrible burden of guilt and hoping to find some peace at Coorah Creek.
Ellen is hiding from an abusive husband. She has taken her two small children and is looking to give them a better life than they had before… or at least a safe place to grow up.
And Adam – well, he’s hiding from the past and most of all he is hiding from himself. He’s a wonderful doctor, driven and talented. He cares a great deal for his patents… but is determined to let no-one care for him.
You grew up in the Australian outback, so what brought you to Surrey?
Ah – that’s easy. An Englishman with green eyes and a guitar. We met while we were both living in Hong Kong. It was all terribly romantic. My husband brought me to England – and I fell in love with London too. Surrey is the perfect place for us – room for a garden and a grumpy cat – but close enough to enjoy everything London has to offer.
You grew up surrounded by books, so how much has this contributed to your writing?
A great deal. I think reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. If you don’t love reading – you’re not going to love writing. Even more importantly, reading gives me the tools to write. I learn from what I read… I learn what works and what doesn’t. I learn structure and plotting. All that helps make me a better writer. Although sometimes, when I read a really exceptional book, I start to wonder what I am doing trying to write… that I will never be that good. Maybe I will and maybe I won’t - but I will never stop trying.
How much has your background in journalism affected your fiction writing?
I thought it would be easy to make the switch… after all, writing is writing. But it’s not. There is an enormous difference between presenting facts to a viewing audience in a story of maybe 180 words – and writing a novel of 90,000 words. Of course, as a journalist I had to be very careful to stay with the facts of a story. As a novelist I get to make things up. Once I got used to doing that, I decided it was a lot more fun.
You have met some pretty big icons over the years in your line of work, so what was the most memorable for you?
That is a tough one… I bumped into Johnny Depp one day at work –that was a red letter day for sure. Of course, I was far too embarrassed to talk to him.
When I was quite a new reporter, I met the author Frederick Forsythe – who wrote Day of the Jackal. He was the first ‘real’ author I ever met – and I thought he looked so suave and continental in his polo neck jumper.
You may be surprised to know that some of the most memorable people I’ve met have not been famous. I met an elderly catholic nun once – who, in the face of great suffering, was the most serene person I have ever met. She remains with me all these years later – and was the inspiration for one of my favourite characters in Flight To Coorah Creek.
Can you tell us a bit about your first short story The Last Dragon that was published in 2002.
That was one of the best days of my life. I had tried my hand at a novel, and failed to find a publisher. It wasn’t ready and I wasn’t ready yet. My husband and I went on a holiday to Wales – where there were dragons everywhere. Toy dragons. Dragon shaped rocks. There were even dragons on the road signs. I wrote the short story when we came back to London.
I sent it off to a woman’s magazine and waited. It took a few weeks, but finally I got the answer – Yes. They wanted to publish it. My first piece of published fiction! I was over the moon. I spent another year writing short stories before I attempted another novel. Those short stories taught me a lot about writing, so that when I tried to write another novel – it was good enough.
What is next for you?
I am just putting the final touches on the second Coorah Creek novel. In it, you get to see Jess and Adam and Ellen again – but you also meet new people, with their own stories to tell. I like the idea that when my readers come back to Coorah Creek, they will feel like they are coming home.
I’ve got a lot of other stories bubbling around in my head too – I have been telling stories ever since I was a young girl, making up tales about ponies around the campfire at pony club camp. I don’t think I’m ever going to stop …