Link to Eleanor’s Website for more Information on her writing and novels.
Novel released May 31st, 2022 - Publisher: Allen & Unwin
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INTERVIEW
Please provide a little overview/background on The Coast. What inspired its creation?
When I was researching my second novel, Long Bay, I visited the Prince Henry Nursing and Medical Hospital down the road from Long Bay Gaol at Little Bay. I learned that there was a lazaret (leprosy hospital) on the grounds of the hospital from 1881. This surprised me since I’d never heard of it, and I wanted to find out more. Several years later I read an essay, ‘The Separating Sickness’ by Rebecca Solnit in Harper’s Magazine about leprosy which changed my perception of the disease, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the patients at Little Bay. This is always a sign that I need to write about it.
The Coast is told from four perspectives. Why did you choose to tell the story this way?
I had seven perspectives originally, but my editors suggested I get rid of three. I do think my earlier drafts were a little confusing, since many of the characters change names in the course of the novel. I wanted to tell the story this way because I am greedy – I like to learn about characters from other characters’ perspectives of them, and I wanted to give as much context to the disease in Australia in the early 1900s as I could.
If you could describe the four main characters: Alice, Clea, Jack and Will in three words each, what would they be?
Alice: curious, brave, restless
Clea: reckless, trusting, hedonistic
Jack: contemplative, cautious, loyal
Will: fair, gentle, careful
Please share a few surprising facts you uncovered during your researchof The Coast?
From the late 19th century, all states in Australia had compulsory detention for leprosy patients, which meant they could be locked up for life. A cure was not discovered until the 1940s. Most leprosy patients changed their names to protect their families and many cemeteries refused to take their bodies, considering them to be contagious even after death. At several leprosy colonies (Peel Island in Queensland and Carville in Louisiana in the USA) shops refused to take their bottles for return deposits, so there were discarded glass bottles lying about. Attendants put mail in the ovens to burn off the ‘germs’ (sometimes burning the mail entirely) and washed money for fear of contamination. However, leprosy is one of the least contagious diseases (less contagious, for example, than tuberculosis).
Which scene in The Coast was the most difficult to write and why? And which one the most uplifting and rewarding?
There were several scenes that were difficult to write: when there was death or violence, when my characters were in pain. The rewarding ones were when they had moments of grace: whether these are in nature or in connection with others. I’m not religious but I believe in grace – those times when we transcend day-to-day existence.
In your opinion, have attitudes changed toward diseases like leprosy in the modern age? Have any injustices experienced in The Coast remained today?
We have a cure for leprosy (which is now called Hansen’s Disease) and patients are no longer kept in isolation and detention, however, we only need to look at the way that people are still called lepers if they are ostracised or outcast to recognise the prejudices which still exist. I remember a fear of AIDS which was not dissimilar, and the denigration of people with HIV and the myths that you could catch it from a toilet seat. Then the COVID-19 pandemic showed me how fear, racism and ostracism are still a prevalent part of how we view disease. The parallels at times were extraordinary, with the same level of blaming others (in both cases the Chinese) that existed during the spread of leprosy in the early 1900s.
Who is your favourite character in The Coast and what makes them special to you?
Alice came to me originally so she remains my favourite character. I often return to the theme of motherhood and societal expectations of motherhood, so when I was researching the records of lazaret patients and found the case of three generations of one Northern Rivers family who ended up in the lazaret, I was compelled to discover more. The grandfather was taken away first, then the mother after she gave birth to her second child, and then the daughter (the first child) when she was nine. At Little Bay, the daughter was reunited with her mother, who she hadn’t seen since she was two. It is a tragic story but there are these glimpses of light already. The possibility of grace.
What is/are the main theme(s) of The Coast?
The effects of isolation and ostracism. The importance of feeling pain. Fear of difference and how it changes how we treat people – but that difference (and diversity) are what enrich society.
Give us a summary of your publication journey. Are you happy with your progress to date? Do you have any unfulfilled writing aspirations?
My first novel, What Was Left, was published in 2013, and my second novel, Long Bay, in 2015. Then my small publisher, Sleepers Publishing, closed down and I had to find a literary agent and publisher for my third novel, The Passengers. I was lucky to find the agent Grace Heifetz who connected me with Jane Palfreyman at Allen & Unwin. This was the first book of mine that sold well, that was translated into another language and made into an audiobook. It’s lovely knowing I am reaching more readers. I am happy that I can keep writing about what fascinates me and that I don’t feel any pressure to write a certain type of book. My unfulfilled writing aspiration is probably to be published in the US one day since that is where I am from. But I might not be writing the right sorts of books for that, and I’m not going to change what I write about.
Tell us a bit about your creative process. Are you a plotter, pantser or both?
I’m a pantser, for the most part, although the beauty of historical fiction is that you have some history to guide you – some source documents. It gives me a little bit of a map, without telling me the route I must take to get from one place to another.
Who or what inspired you to become a writer? Is writing a natural inclination for you?
My mother chose my name because she thought it would look good on the spine of a book, so there’s a little bit of expectation. I come from a very bookish family, and my mother read to my sister and I from the Andrew Lang books of fairy tales. As a child though, writing was fraught. I preferred to read because I didn’t want people telling me what or how to write. It took being a journalist in my twenties to realise that I could produce writing to a deadline and treat it like work. Without that discipline I don’t think I would have ever become a novelist.
Are you a reader and/or writer of poetry as your writing is very lyrical? Do you have any favourite poets from the past or present?
Thank you! I love to read poetry but I don’t often write it. But reading poetry gives me an appreciation of rhythm and the capacity for fewer words to say more. I love Sharon Olds, WS Merwin, Ocean Vuong, Claudia Rankine and Mary Oliver, to name a few. Listening to poetry on audiobooks is a recent discovery: it’s perfect since I think most poems are meant to be read aloud. I listen while walking my dog. I check them out from the library – in my opinion there aren’t enough poetry audiobooks! Publishers should make more of them.
If you could go back in time and meet one figure from history to interview and learn from, for the writing of a future novel, who would it be?
This is a hard question, as I’m less interested in historical figures and more interested in ordinary people. But I think I would go and speak to Laura Ingalls Wilder, because she wasn’t just a historical figure, she was a woman who decided late in life to write books about her childhood. And growing up her books were my talismans. I practically memorised them.
Who are your top five favourite authors? Any book(s) you would recommend from your reading pile?
Barbara Kingsolver, Toni Morrison, Joan London, Amanda Lohrey and Andrew Miller. Oh, and Ann Patchett (sorry, a sneaky sixth). Right now I’m reading Emily Ruskovitch’s Idaho. It’s dark and extraordinary. I have little patience for sentences which don’t surprise me.
Do you have any must-have foods you like to eat while writing fiction? Any physical or other creative activities that keep you energised?
Haribo Goldbears gummi bears. It’s weird, I know, but I’ve loved them since I was a child in Germany and there is something still magical about them. No, I don’t want to read the ingredient list! I also go for a walk if I’m stuck, or a run. And swimming in the ocean is a new hobby – it’s terrifying and wonderful.
Are you working on a new project, and if so can you share a few words about it?
It’s a new-old project. I’m taking a memoir class online at Varuna with Rick Morton which is unbelievably good, and I’m revisiting a memoir I’ve been trying to write for years. It’s about many things but at its core, it’s about my father’s death and about falling in love and moving to Australia.
Many thanks to Eleanor for being my guest! I hope her novel flies off the shelves into many hearts. It is an incredible story you won’t want to miss. Be prepared to have your heart jarred and your mind filled with a slice of less known Australian history.
Thanks, too, to publisher Allen and Unwin for the ARC.
