Carolyn Morwood is launching her new book, Death and the Spanish Lady. 72147 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Charlene Gatt
CAROLYN Morwood is a rarity in the publishing world.
The Altona author, who has just released her fourth book, Death and the Spanish Lady, never suffers from writer’s block. Ever.
Instead, she sits at her desk three days a week and writes solidly until the job is done.
“If you haven’t got that much time – and I don’t – you just do it,” Ms Morwood explains.
Her latest book is based in Melbourne in 1919 and fuses real-life history with a mystery.
The story revolves around protagonist Sister Eleanor Jones, who works in the temporary hospital set up in the Melbourne Exhibition buildings treating patients of the Spanish Flu, also known as the Spanish Lady.
When one of her patients disappears, Eleanor can’t help but get involved in the investigation.
Ms Morwood launched the book, the first in a trilogy, at Yarraville’s Sun Bookshop over the weekend.
Ironically, she wrote the second book first as a stand-alone novel and now has to modify it after her publisher wanted a trilogy. She has just started writing the third instalment.
Ms Morwood said she was astounded by how rich Melbourne’s history was – and was equally astounded by how little she’d known about it.
“Melbourne never really got much of a gig (in history),” she said.
“The Spanish flu wiped out more people than World War I.”
Ms Morwood has always written short stories and made her first foray into novels – just to see if she could write one – more than 15 years ago.
Unlike many, she found the sheer length of a novel a refreshing change.
“I think a lot of novelists find the length a challenge, but I find it very satisfying to explore the characters and have fun with it,” she said.
Ms Morwood also teaches creative writing twice a week at the Centre for Adult Education.
