Ep 20: A female mortician meets a bloke from the bush in Fiona McIntosh’s “The Orphans” + why an Excel spreadsheet is invaluable when writing historical fiction

Prolific British author Fiona McIntosh faced the challenge of setting her latest two novels in an Australian landscape when Covid kept her from her usual European haunts. The result is “The Orphans”; a tale of love, murder and treachery set between 1930s Adelaide and the Flinders Ranges.  In her other post-Covid release, “Dead Tide”, McIntosh had to create a plot that allowed her to move her regular character, detective Jack Hawksworth,  from Scotland Yard to Adelaide. and Research and serendipity are at the heart of writing historical fiction. Author Dominique Wilson talks about how she goes about placing her fictional characters in a realistic world from the past, and how she finds a mathematical approach essential. Guests Fiona McIntosh, author of “The Orphans” and “Dead Tide” https://www.fionamcintosh.com/ Dr Dominique Wilson, novelist and short story writer. Dominique has published three historical novels, “The Yellow Papers”, “The Devil’s Madness” and “Orphan Rock” https://dominiquewilson.com.au/ Our Random Reader is Joey Other books that get a mention: Annie and Sarah mention “Cold Enough for Snow” by Jessica Au, winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature Joey mentions “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien, “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts, and “Breakfast of Champions” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.