What is inspiring you at the present time? I’m working on my third novel that is based on a real-life Australian Impressionist and it involves two things I love: France and art. It’s a wonderful thing when you feel you’ve captured an ordinary life truth in words.The much-loved local author, Sarah Turnbull, is standing up for Pittwater, the place she loves, as an Independent candidate in the next Northern Beaches Council elections. The most emotional scenes in the book relate to our struggle to have a child and I found writing these parts difficult but ultimately really satisfying. I’m a very visual person and the challenge was to describe in words the beautiful, vivid pictures in my memory. I loved writing the water scenes in the book because I could relive my experiences swimming in the lagoon on Mo’orea and scuba diving. What was the best thing about writing All Good Things? There were doctors and nurses all around us but from that point on for me there was just the three of us in the room. It was a caesarean birth so I was pretty high on anaesthetic and gas but I remember it so clearly: my anticipation and impatience, the mix of elation, pride and relief on Frederic’s face. The moment when my husband walked across the operating theatre with our newborn son in his arms. If you could replay a moment of your life over and over again, what would it be? Do you have any hot writing tips for beginners?ĭon’t worry if it’s any good and whether anyone will want to read or publish it. Normally at the end of a scuba dive I'd feel ready to return to land and air but that time I didn’t want to get out. It was like looking through a kaleidoscope, there was so much stunning colour and light and shifting patterns. The pass was crammed with sea life that streamed around us and rose in great walls and banks in front of us. Drift diving on the current was an unforgettable experience - I felt like I was flying.
There's nothing there except a string of tiny islets, one or two pensions, and Tumakohua Pass, a narrow, pristine ocean channel connecting the sea to Fakarava’s vast lagoon. In All Good Things I write about a scuba diving trip my husband and I made to the far side of Fakarava, a remote atoll in French Polynesia. Lord of the Flies would have to be high on the list too – I reread it recently and was struck by how perfect it is. It’s original and poetic, like nothing I’ve ever read.
Peter Heller’s novel The Dog Stars is a new favourite. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner is one of my all-time favourites – it’s a quiet, beautiful story about friendship and marriage.
After nearly a decade in France, Sarah spent several years on an island near Tahiti. Formerly a television journalist with SBS in Sydney, she began working as a freelance writer following her move to Paris in 1994. Sarah Turnbull is the author of the international bestseller Almost French.
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