by Karen Brooks
Thank you as well to my gorgeous Facebook friends on my author page and on Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the podcasters and Facebook reading groups who also support books and writers, engage with us, review our works, discuss them passionately, and keep us motivated and feeling appreciated – you’re beyond simply terrific.
Also, a huge thanks to the friends of Captain Bligh’s Brewery and Distillery – Brewstillery now! Every time I see you, whether it’s at our monthly bar nights or the markets or around town, you support what it is Stephen and I (and Adam) do – whether it be with beer, spirits or books. Thank you so much. We love you guys.
I also want to thank my much-missed inspiration and cherished friend, Sara Douglass.
Now it’s time for my last thanks – my family. Starting with my remarkable sister, Jenny Farrell, a nurse and my brother’s main guardian. In a year that has tossed up more challenges than we ever anticipated, she’s been a tower of strength, kindness, and the backbone of our family as we struggled with my brother’s terminal cancer diagnosis and the aftermath of that. Even so, she has never relaxed her unerring support of me, her unshakeable belief in what I do. I love you, Jenny – and that lovely husband of yours, my dear brother-in-law, John Farrell.
To my furbies – my canine muses and beloved companions, Tallow, Dante and Bounty – who sit with me day in and out as I write, act out scenes and accents (as their little heads twist one way then the other, reducing me to gales of laughter), I am so blessed you chose me as one of your humans. We’re growing old together, but at least it’s together. I so wish they could read this!
To my beautiful very adult children, Adam and Caragh – both incredible creators in their own unique ways – one with spirits, the other with words, computer code, and amazing artworks and ideas. They make me laugh, cry, frustrated, proud, cranky and joyous and remind me every day that real life can be both as challenging and as crazily astonishing as the fictional ones I write. I love you both very much.
Finally, I have to thank my beloved husband, my partner in everything. Last year, for a few hours, I thought I was going to lose him. I cannot begin to tell you how that felt. Except, at some point in the long journey to be by his side where he was in a remote hospital A&E, it occurred to me that there was nothing I needed to say to him; I’d no regrets or things I wish we’d said or done – apart or together. How lucky am I? To have that realisation that I shared my life with the right person, the only person I wanted to be with, was very powerful. As I travelled, I’d time to reflect on our life and partnership. There’s been good and dreadful times, moments of unbelievable sorrow, yet also deep and joyous love, which always ends with gratitude for what we have. We often marvel. For me, I now marvel that I still have him. In terms of my professional life, he’s always supported me – critiqued, read, been a wonderful sounding board. He loved Alyson from the moment I brought her voice to life and every step of the way since. If only she’d had a husband like him, then her life may have turned out very differently, even back then. But he’s here, in this time, and he’s my partner in everything and for that I’m beyond fortunate and beyond grateful. It’s good to be his wife.
ISBN: 9781489277442
TITLE: THE GOOD WIFE OF BATH: A (MOSTLY) TRUE STORY
First Australian Publication 2021
Copyright © 2021 Karen Brooks
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