Hi and welcome to my website,                                                                                                         

 This website is about the stories I love to read and those that I have written and I hope that it will be a great place for sharing that love of reading and writing.   The bookshelf above shows some of my favourite books and you will notice, if you look carefully, that there are only three which are not by Australian authors.  That is not to say that I don’t read books from other countries, it’s just that our homegrown writers are so good.

My passion for Australian literature and history both stem from my career as a teacher and teacher-librarian.  I was able to indulge that passion completely when I studied for my Masters in Writing and Literature and I’m constantly learning more about it through short term and online courses. I have written many short stories, life stories and stories for children, some of which can be found here on my website.

I have also written the fascinating story of the first doctor in Melbourne,  Dr Barry Cotter: The first doctor in Melbourne, which was archived by the National Library of Australia in 2015 to ensure long term access to the information collected. It is a great story and is available free of charge here for you to read.

The painstaking and fascinating research for that story forms part of the factual basis for my novel Izzy. Set in the 19th Century, when women had few rights and limited opportunities, Izzy is the story of a woman who is powerless to control her life.  Until she isn’t. You can read more about Izzy here.   It has been a fascinating journey writing Izzy, especially interweaving fact and fiction .

You can stay in touch by subscribing to my newsletter on the sidebar .   The newsletter will contain regular reviews of the books I love to read.  I have kept a handwritten reading journal for many years and I will be  sharing my thoughts about some of the books I have read recently and some I read in the past.

The three non- Australian writers on the bookshelf above are

Arundathi Roy from India who won the 1997 Booker prize with The God of Small Things.  I read it while travelling in India in 1998 and several times since.

Niall Williams is from Ireland and This is Happiness is his latest book. I’m a big fan, having read all his books, beginning with The Four Letters of Love in 1999.

Cal Flyn is from Scotland and I love her book Thicker than Water about Angus McMillan and the settlement of Gippsland, Victoria. I read it in 2016.

I hope you visit again and share some of your insights into reading and writing.

Cheers from Moira