I turned her away, the woman who was no longer me, and put her back to face the wall.
Not today. I would not start cleaning up this place now. It would feel wrong to empty it out and erase Charlie from here, as if he had never been. Perhaps Nick would take care of it for me. Before next harvest we planned to convert it into backpacker quarters with bunks to accommodate six.
And before next harvest, we will have married. The date has been set in the third month of spring. The ceremony will be in the front garden when the roses, azaleas and rhododendrons are out, and the maples and birches are shady. The celebrant has been booked, a woman from Mansfield. Renee, my lovely new friend, has offered to do the catering. It will be small and informal, with only twenty or thirty guests. I already have the dress. In April we drove to Melbourne to meet with the distributor, and later we walked down Chapel Street. We had lunch at Oscar’s. Our old table was taken so we sat two down, towards the kitchen. We ordered Thai chicken salads, and not breakfast. The menu and staff were different, the walls were filled with mirrors and a blackboard. We had all moved on. Afterwards, in a shop window, I saw the gorgeous creation and thought it might be my only chance to get something so special. It was off the shoulder, pink silk with cream inlays. I liked the way it felt around my bare legs, how it swirled when I walked. But it might not actually fit by the wedding, I’ll have to wait and see. I’m pregnant, a boy this time. Nick wants to call him Harvey, but I’m pushing for Charles. Sophie likes Louis. I carry the palette board under my arm and pull the studio door shut, then walk through the cypresses and into the rose garden. It needs pruning too, and fertilising in early spring. Weeds need pulling. And out in front two lorikeets dive and soar and disappear into the silver birches.
Acknowledgements
THIS novel was inspired in the years Alistair and I owned and worked a commercial blueberry orchard in north-east Victoria. During that time we met countless hardworking backpackers, and locals, who picked and packed for us. Many of our family and friends also tied on a picking-pouch, or wrapped on a back brace, and worked alongside us. They were fun yet tough years.
The seasonal cycle and business of operating a blueberry orchard has been told as accurately as I can. However, this is a work of fiction and the characters bear no relation to real people. Huntly is a made up name and it resembles the small township and surrounds where our blueberry orchard was.
I would like to thank my writing mentor, Toni Jordan, for her guidance and encouragement throughout the drafting of Blueberry. Special thanks also to Antoni Jach for his leadership and infectious enthusiasm in his Masterclasses at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. I’ve also greatly valued the feedback, support and friendship of the many talented writers who also attend ed.
Throughout my writing career, I’ve had specific assistance from Louise Zaetta, Sydney Smith, Kathryn Ledson, Christie Nieman and Chris Power. Thank you for your invaluable contributions.
I am indebted to my agent, Sheila Drummond, for finding a home for Blueberry at Penguin Random House.
The book has benefited from the close and thoughtful attention of my publisher, Beverley Cousins, and also Lex Hirst, my editor.
To my children, grandchildren, family and friends, who have been patient and always supportive – thank you.
My greatest thanks goes to my husband, Alistair, whose love sustains me in everything.
Glenna Thomson is an experienced blueberry orchardist. She has worked alongside backpackers, spent winter months pruning and long days in the packing shed during harvest. She grew up on an apple orchard, married, had children, and developed a career in overseas aid and business. In 2004 her life turned full circle when she, and her husband, bought a cattle property and blueberry orchard in north-east Victoria. Blueberry is her first novel.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Penguin Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Blueberry
9780143782049
First published by Bantam in 2017
Copyright © Glenna Thomson, 2017
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
A Bantam book
Published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd
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www.penguin.com.au
Addresses for the Penguin Random House group of companies can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com/offices.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Thomson, Glenna, author
Blueberry/Glenna Thomson
ISBN 978 0 14378 204 9 (ebook: epub)
Friendship – Fiction
Australian fiction
Cover images: woman © Nina Masic/Trevillion Images; forest berries © vilaxlt/Depositphotos
Cover design by Lisa Brewster at Blacksheep Design
Ebook by Firstsource
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Blueberry Page 27
