This week I have Australian romantic suspense author, Helene Young, to join me for tea.
My dear Helene, do come in...
Hi Alison, thanks for having me
around for a chat! Congratulations on the multiple award nominations for GATHER THE BONES. You must be delighted.
Thank you. I know how much an award nomination means to me but you must be thrilled that your last book, BURNING LIES, has been nominated for a RUBY Award (and your other books have also garnered enormous kudos)? What does nomination (and winning!) awards mean to you?
I am thrilled and a little overwhelmed to have the final book in my Border Watch trilogy join the first two on the RUBY shortlist. Winning the award in 2011 and 2012 made a great deal of difference to my confidence level. When Wings of Fear won in 2011 I was struggling to find a home for BURNING LIES and the RUBY helped secure me a place with Penguin Australia. Knowing that readers had connected with my stories continues to be a humbling, but uplifting feeling. BURNING LIES is also on the short list for the Daphne du Maurier awards in America so it’s wonderful validation for my almost ‘orphaned’ story!
(Helene has a copy of Burning Lies to give away to a lucky commenter...see below)
Helene, I know you have recently made a lifestyle change and I
will come back to that shortly, but
first I have always wanted to know more about your former career. You are/were
a commercial airline pilot. I remember the horror when the first woman in
Australia flew a commercial plane. You would think it was going to drop out of
the sky! When did you become a pilot and what was your experience of being a
woman in what was (and still is?), a man's world?
I remember very clearly
the battle Deborah Lawrie (Wardley) fought against Ansett and the establishment
to earn the right to pilot a commercial jet aircraft in Australian. At the time
I was in high school and couldn’t believe that women were still being shut out
of the airlines. Her very public court case also may have been the reason my
Career Guidance Officer suggested I might like nursing instead of flying…
Having left school in 1980 I
didn’t start flying until 1989 (I had a lot of fun in the intervening years!).
Those with long memories will remember 1989 as the year of the pilots' strike. It
wasn’t the most auspicious start to a career, but being a woman worked in my
favour. I did my training at Archerfield Aerodrome in Brisbane where there were
about 120 working pilots of which one was a woman. The owner of the flying
school had a teenage daughter who was an aspiring pilot and he was keen to have
a female mentor for her. Once I finished my Instructor training he employed me
and I’ve been flying ever since. Industry wide about 5% of working pilots are
women. In the Qantaslink base in Cairns 20% of our pilots are women. The odds
of going to work with a crew of four women are pretty darned good and I love
it!
 |
| Helene at the controls of a Dash 8 |
Like most industries there are
glass ceilings, but I’ve had some wonderful men who’ve mentored me and I’m now
a Check and Training Captain with the airline. Although of course I’d love to
see the participation rate continue to grow.
Please have a cucumber sandwich and tell me about your recent
"seachange"? How is your dog adapting to life as an "old sea
dog"?
 |
| Zeus, the old sea dog, basking in the sun |
Yum, I do love a cucumber
sandwich! Our seachange was 12 years in the planning and execution and we’re now
both enjoying our life afloat. Zeus has settled in well, but the obvious difficulty
with no longer being able to pop out the dog flap to inspect the bushes in the
back yard has made for some sleepless nights… However it’s a sunny winter in
Cairns so he spends a large part of his day snoozing on the back deck in the
sun. Marina life has a definite rhythm all of its own!
Your latest book, HALF MOON BAY, has been on a bit of a
journey of its own since you first wrote it. What was the inspiration behind
the story and how did it change from the original concept?
I finished the first version of
HALF MOON BAY in 2005 and it was a finalist in the RWA Emerald Award in 2007. The
current version looks very different with much more action and a more solid
romance.
One of the main inspirations for
HALF MOON BAY came from growing up at Currumbin Beach and seeing the way a
community of retirees could find themselves facing huge changes as the tide of
development swept their beach shacks aside. Council corruption was a given at
the time and that sense of injustice stayed with me. The characters of Ellie and
her sister, Nina, owe much to my sister and her friends who were all journalist
with high ideals and incredible dedication to their jobs.
In the rewriting of the story
before I submitted it to Penguin I also delved more into the trauma of war on
both the armed forces personal and the war reporters so strengthening that part
of the story was essential. But I think the thread that has always fascinated
me is how people cope when someone they love or trust has crossed the invisible
moral line in pursuit of justice or the truth. For Ellie finding the truth
about her sister may mean she has to accept Nina is not the wise and ethical
woman she looked up. I think we can all relate to that sense of betrayal and I
hope Half Moon Bay resonates with readers.
Thanks for chatting!
And thanks for being such a wonderful guest, Helene. You must fly...!
More about
HALF MOON BAY
Ellie
Wilding has been running from her past, but when the residents of Half Moon Bay
call for help she knows it's finally time to return home. As an
international photojournalist, she's used to violence in war zones, but she's
shocked when it erupts in the sleepy hamlet on the north coast of New South
Wales, threatening all she holds dear.
Battle-weary
Nicholas Lawson walked away from his military career leaving unfinished
business. In a coastal backwater, that decision returns to haunt him. He
remembers all too vividly his last lethal assignment in Afghanistan when
Ellie's sister, Nina, was shot and killed. Ellie's been in his dreams ever
since, even if she doesn't remember him…
As a
storm rages and floodwaters rise, Ellie struggles to save her community. But
who can she trust? Nick Lawson, the dangerously attractive stranger with
secrets, or an old friend who's never let her down?
HELENE HAS VERY KINDLY LEFT ME WITH A COPY OF BURNING LIES FOR A LUCKY COMMENTER. JOIN IN OUR CONVERSATION AND TELL US OF ANY MAJOR CAREER CHANGES YOU HAVE MADE IN YOUR LIFE?
(Comments close 17 July - if you wish to be included in the draw please leave an email address where you can be contacted)
