A cuppa with Meredith
Welcome!
Well hello gorgeous
Goodness me, it’s been all sorts of crazy here. Between edits and family visiting from overseas and the distraction of excellent news (see below!) it’s September already. I hope the last couple of months have been dazzling for you.
Can I just say, OMG, teaching kids to drive these days. What is that? When I taught my eldest to drive, I was pregnant with the child who’s currently learning to drive. Maybe hormones are the reason why I don’t recall it being so time-consuming, so fraught, so never-ending!! And that thing where the one designated as the driving instructor is the parent least likely to lose their sh*t? Lucky me! Thank goodness for paid lessons as well (Hello? Three hours credit?) and at least we’re now at a point where my guts don’t churn at the words, ‘can we go for a drive, mum?’ Thirty hours down, 90 to go. Wish us luck.
I’ve been reading a fair bit — perhaps an antidote to the stress of driving lessons, who knows? — more likely a counterbalance to editing. Reading someone else’s polished words is quite soothing when in the midst of wrangling one’s own. Plus I had the pleasure of doing an author talk at Queanbeyan- Palerang Library and I’m delighted to have some exciting new events coming up in October and November, including my first writing workshop to coincide with NaNoWriMo.
And in case you missed me hyperventilating on socials, there’s that little matter of the film rights being sold for The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison...
Onwards!
And...action!
Many, many readers said The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison would make a great movie. So, it’s very exciting to share the news that film and television rights have been sold to CJZ Productions. Sometime soon, Derek and the lads will be making the leap from the page to the screen. I’m already casting, choosing a frock for the red carpet (Ha!) In case you missed it on socials, here’s the media release. Thank you to everyone who posted such lovely comments on socials. Sharing the moment makes it all the more special.
‘I don’t know, I thought the book was better.’
Haven’t we all said that? Well, here’s some interesting facts I stumbled across. According to a 2018 report by the Publishers Association and Frontier Economics, film adaptations of books gross more than original screenplays/ scripts.
43% of the top 20 highest-grossing films in the U.K. from 2007 to 2016 were book-based, and
25% of TV dramas were based on literary sources and attracted a 56% larger audience share than those based on original scripts (according to data from the four major free-to-air UK TV networks between 2013 and 2017.)
Apparently, this is consistent with US data (and, presumably, Australia.) If this sort of thing floats your boat, here’s the link to the original article https://bit.ly/3R4ByvB.
Books to Love
A lot of writers say they can’t read other people’s work while they are writing for fear they might accidentally plagiarise or in case it influences their style. Not a problem I suffer from BUT I do like to read work that inspires me — whether it be structure, character, style. On that note, I read all of Sarah Winman’s backlist. I adored Still Life and after much consideration, I think The Year of Marvellous Ways might be my next favourite Winman. What about you? I believe she’s in the country for various festivals so lucky everyone who gets to see her.
Apart from that, there are three stand outs for me, and lucky you, I have giveaway copies of two of them. Yay!
Writers and Lovers by Lily King
Casey is back in Massachusetts waiting tables after the sudden death of her mother and a disastrous love affair. She is flat-broke, heart-broken and grief stricken. The constants in her life are the novel she’s been working on for the past six years and the belief of her best friend, Muriel. Even so, this is not the place she wants to be, or expected to be, at thirty-one.
When she meets Silas, she’s not sure he’s really her type, she’s more interested in the enigmatic famous writer, Oscar Kolton. Being recently widowed and raising two small boys on his own gives him an allure poor Silas can’t match, which leaves Casey torn between an earthly attraction and a more aspirational one.
King’s genius is in the way she makes Casey hopeful rather than hopeless as she tries to navigate herself towards what she longs for and away from what drags her down. Casey is smart, funny and observant, which makes for beautiful prose and wonderful characterisations. This warm witty novel is charming, especially when King can’t resist poking fun at writers and the pomposity that can sometimes accompany success.
All That's Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien
The hype around this book has been enormous and Tracey Lien’s debut thriller is worth every word of praise. Set in Cabramatta in south west Sydney, it centres around the brutal murder of Ky’s little brother, Denny, in a local restaurant on the night of his high school graduation. Despite the fact there were over a dozen diners at the Lucky 8, no one saw a thing.
Ky (pronounced Kee) returns from Melbourne for the funeral and discovers her parents have refused an autopsy and the police have no leads. This is 1996, when the suburb was the centre of a heroin epidemic and the ensuing violent crime. As a journalist, Ky is as appalled by the apathy and inertia in solving the murder and is determined to track down her baby brother’s killer. Along the way, she remembers why she fled her family and this suburb. Between the racism, the legacy of colonialism and the Vietnam war, intergenerational trauma has defined her upbringing.
Lien balances a family saga stretching from pre-war Vietnam to 1996 Australia with a searing and insightful examination of what it means to be a refugee, an immigrant, and face daily contempt and ignorance. This is a superb and layered novel — emotionally wrenching and impossible to put down. In this case, the hype is well-deserved.
CUT by Susan White
Dr Carla di Pieta’s ambition is to be the first female surgeon in the male enclave that is Prince Charles Hospital. When a consultant position opens up, based on skill and record alone, she’s the obvious candidate. Except she’s competing with her lover for the position and his father happens to be one of PCH's senior physicians. After a workplace dinner, Carla is sexually assaulted by one of her colleagues. Traumatised, she tries to keep going but the medical fraternity closes ranks and her dream job is no longer within reach. But Carla has had enough of the way female staff are treated at PCH and is determined to fight back. And she's not alone.
CUT is a terrific medical thriller that exposes the power and gender imbalance between male and female doctors (and nurses) the up and coming versus the establishment and exposing hospitals as workplaces rife with sexism and sexual abuse.
Apparently, women have long been equally represented in Australian medical schools, yet only represent 28% of medical deans and 12.5% of hospital CEOs. It’s an all too familiar story. Clinical geneticist and writer, Susan White, says the story came out of the rumblings of the #metoo movement and two decades of her experience from medical student to a senior doctor.
The characterisations are deft, the writing sharp. An earlier version of CUT was shortlisted for the 2017 Kill Your Darlings’ Unpublished Manuscript Award. CUT is equal parts entertaining and compelling. It's a terrific read.
Giveaway
Thanks to the good folk at HarperCollins Australia, I have one copy of All That’s Left Unsaid to giveaway. You know the drill, all you have to do is send me an email with the answer to this oh-so-difficult question.
What was the name of the restaurant where Denny was murdered?
I also have one copy of CUT to giveaway thanks to the good folk at Affirm Press. All you have to do is send me an email with the answer to this equally challenging question.
What is the name of the hospital where Dr Carla di Pieta works?
As always, this giveway is only open to subscribers and you must reside within Australia to be eligible to win (postage!) The winners will be picked at random and I will announce who they are on 30 September 2022. Good luck!
Upcoming Events
Here is a list of my upcoming events. Full program details are on my website (time, place, etc.) I try to keep this list updated, so do jump on over there for any new events that might be being held in your neck of the woods. I'd love you to come and say hello so that we can meet IRL.
Kiama Library
Author Talk and afternoon tea
2pm — 4pm, Saturday October 8
Join Meredith Jaffé for afternoon tea and an entertaining discussion about the hugely popular The Dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison and her new novel, The Tricky Art of Forgiveness.
According to their website, no need to book. $5 members / $8 guests (includes light refreshments). Cash only
More information available here
Berry Writers Festival
Friday 21 to Sunday 23 October, 2022
The inaugural Berry Writers Festival on the gorgeous south coast has lots of wonderful events. Come and see some of your favourite writers of fiction and non fiction. My event details are below. I’d love to see you there!
The Choices We Make
12pm, Saturday 22 October
Scots Hall, Berry
Suzanne Daniel, Jacqueline Maley and Meredith Jaffé in conversation with Suzanne Burdon
No matter what your age, or your social, cultural and family environment, life consists of making difficult choices about what we should believe and how we should respond to our circumstances. In Allegra in Three Parts, Suzanne Daniel explores the choices facing her protagonist as she absorbs the different lessons from her equally very different grandmas; in Jacqueline Maley’s novel, The Truth about Her she explores the difficult choices women make when facing the crises surrounding motherhood; and Meredith Jaffe, in The Tricky Art of Forgiveness looks at the resentments we hold and the lies we tell.
Tickets available here or for more information on the festival program, visit their website
Coming up in November
The Heroine’s Festival
2.30pm to 4.30pm, Saturday 6 November, Coledale Community Hall
2022 sees the return of the Heroine’s Festival. I’ll be in conversation with Michelle Cahill about her astonishing novel, Daisy and Woolf. It’s described thus:
A meditation on art, race and class in a postcolonial world, Daisy and Woolf is a masterpiece of postmodern fiction to rival The Hours or Wide Sargasso Sea. Via the character, Mina, it explores the unfinished story of Daisy Simmons 'the dark, adorable' Eurasian woman Peter Walsh plans to marry in Virginia Woolf's acclaimed novel, Mrs Dalloway. Daisy disappeared from Woolf's pages, her story unfinished - never given a voice in the novel, nor a footnote in any of the admiring Woolf scholarship that followed.
No less than Hilary Mantel said, ‘Her deftness and linguistic grace masks her purpose, till she reveals a shocking glimpse of the price that art can exact.'
As you can imagine, I am so looking forward to this chat. To book super early bird tickets or to find out more, go here
NaNoWriMo at Kiama Library
WORKSHOP
4pm to 5.30pm, Tuesday 15 November
November is internationally recognised as National Novel Writing Month where aspiring and published writers across the globe attempt to write 50,000 words in a month, which is roughly half a novel in most genres or a whole children’s novel. I’ll be running the following workshop to help participants with the essential skill of story mapping. The workshop is limited to 20 to 25 people. Cost TBA. But it's going to be enormous fun!
Here's the blurb:
Pantser or Plotter? Creating a Story Map
Whether you prefer to start with a blank page and see where the story takes you or like to nut it all out before you write a word, a Story Map is an essential element in crafting a story that grabs readers and immerses them in your world. This workshop will explore the essential ingredients in creating great stories and editing your work to make your story shine.
Further info will be available from Kiama Library over here
Keep an eye on my socials and website for further details.
The end of the cup...
And, my friend, my cup is empty. Time to return to my edits, which I sincerely hoping will be done very soon. I hope you have a wonderful couple of months filled with reading and love as we barrel towards the end of the year.
You can check out updates on events at www.meredithjaffe.com or you will always find me chatting on socials on either Instagram or Facebook @meredithjaffeauthor.
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