How A Grandfather I Never Knew Sparked A New Novel

Send us Fan MailMy two novels:The Overlife: A Tale of Schizophrenia visit  https://amzn.to/4pdZBbW andThree Kidnapped, Three Siblings, Three Furies visit https://amzn.to/49cMa5QResearch book:The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia: Just like a family? (Palgrave Studies in the History of Childhood) by Nell Musgrove and Deidre Michell, visit https://amzn.to/48Yp5FsThe above three links are my Amazon Affiliate Links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.#Fictionwriting #Familyrelationships #FosterCare #FosterCareAustralia #FictionNovel #NewNovel #FosterfamiliesA vanished mother, a departing father, and three children waiting in an empty house set the spark for my next novel. I’m starting the year by opening the door to book three, a story shaped by my maternal grandfather’s oral history and the fault lines it carved through generations. I share why I’m choosing fiction over memoir, how family accounts from my mother and her sisters guide the narrative, and what it means to honor facts while building scenes that carry emotional truth.We journey to Ballarat at the turn of the 20th century—Jewish families adapting after the gold rush, a synagogue that still stands, and a boy named David whose childhood shatters when both parents vanish days apart. I break down the family fracture, the mayor’s intervention, and the uneven outcomes of foster placements that left one child abused, another bounced between homes, and a sister sheltered by luck. The heart of this episode explores resilience and anger living side by side: how a man can build a loving family and a successful business while never letting go of the fury he felt toward the adults who abandoned and mistreated him.To ground the story, I pull back the curtain on my research into historical foster care in Australia, including insights from The Slow Evolution of Foster Care in Australia: Just Like a Family by Nell Musgrove and Deidre Mitchell. You’ll hear how period policy, placement practices, and social pressures help me avoid anachronism and sentimentality. We talk ethics, composite characters, and the craft choices that keep a narrative honest when memory is secondhand. If you’re drawn to historical fiction, family history, Jewish diaspora stories, or the craft of turning oral history into a novel, you’ll find a clear roadmap of where this project is heading.Join me as I build a story about fracture, belonging, and the quiet endurance that outlasts harm. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves literary historical fiction, and leave a review telling me what questions you want the book to tackle next.My Website and Social Media:https://dianadirkbywrites.com My Instagram: @dianadirkby_writings (https://www.instagram.com/dianadirkby_writings/)My Facebook Page: Diana Dirkby Writings (https://www.facebook.com/DianaDirkbyAuthor)My X-account: @dianadirkby (https://x.com/DianaDirkby)My YouTube channel @DianaDirkbyWrites (https://www.youtube.com/@DianaDirkbyWrites)