The Q Station, on the site of Sydney’s former Quarantine Station, was a great source of inspiration in writing this novel, and it was easy for me to select this location then build the story around it. It was a pleasure to spend much of my investigative time there and if you like disappearing through the doors of time, then I highly recommend a visit to this site.
www.qstation.com.au
I consulted many sources while writing this novel, both written and in person. The complete list is too long to include but here are some of the useful ones.
The tour staff at the Q Station were a treasure trove of historical information during my visits. Also referred to in my research was the book From Quarantine Station to Q Station which can be purchased from the Q Station, and Sydney Then and Now by Caroline Mackaness.
The following websites were invaluable and certainly worth a mention; first and foremost www.qstation.com.au. It is also, incidentally, the website Emma consults in chapter two when first making the decision to visit.
The website recordsearch.naa.gov.au had lots of old documents, supply forms and log books from the Quarantine Station that I found helpful when constructing the scenes in the archive room with Matt and Emma.
I also found www.archives.gov useful in understanding the correct way to handle archived documents and www.etiquettescholar.com (plus various online video tutorials) for guidance on how to set a formal table.
Essential in researching the Great War and its relationship to the Spanish Influenza pandemic were www.firstworldwar.com and www.history.com, and I found a plethora of information on www.dementiacarecentral.com which helped in developing Gwendoline’s cognitive decline. Also particularly useful was www.historyofvaccines.org to understand the timeline of certain vaccinations.
While I completed a significant amount of research for this novel any anomalies, where not intentional, are entirely my own.
My family, as always, were instrumental in helping me bring this story to life. A heartfelt thank you to Brett, Eve and Connor for exercising an enormous amount of patience throughout this process. I could never have done any of this without your love and support.
To my editor, Lynne Stringer, I continue to learn and become a better writer as a result of your guidance. You challenge me and spot the flaws I don’t always spot. I have met some wonderful friends in the book world and you are, without a doubt, one of them.
Thank you always to my girls, Bianca Nash, Liz Butler, Jo Libreri and Natasha Booth. You keep me sane and that’s no small feat.
Heartfelt gratitude to my parents, Carmen Montebello, and Joe and Michelle Montebello for spreading the word and being genuinely interested.
To all the reviewers and bloggers; you are tireless in your efforts to promote authors. I applaud you. Thank you for taking the time to read this too.
To my designer, Kris Dallas, who continues to make beautiful covers and other things for me, and to the staff at the Q Station who answered all my questions, no matter how silly they were. You keep the history of the station alive and will always have a visitor in me.
Lastly, to my readers who have made it to the end of another book. I sincerely hope it transported you. Thank you for all your kind words of encouragement. I have listened to, read and appreciated every single one of them.
Also by Michelle Montebello
Beautiful, Fragile
The Quarantine Station
The Belle Series
Interwoven
A House of Lies
Beneath the Pepper Tree
Beautiful, Fragile
Coming 25th November 2019
We’d hurt each other, my soulmate and I…
Faith James is found on a remote beach in the south of Spain with a head injury and no recollection of how she got there. Recovering in hospital, she is desperate to return to her twenty-five-year-old, single life in Sydney.
But Faith has lost ten years of memories and her world becomes unrecognisable.
Her husband, Will, arrives to collect her, and she is told she has three young children waiting at home in London.
So begins the emotional journey to reclaim the life she's forgotten, learn how to be a wife and mother, and mend a broken marriage. She wants to remember everything…
But are all memories worth fighting for, even the ones that hurt?
Check these links for more books from Author Michelle Montebello.
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Michelle Montebello is a writer from Sydney, Australia where she lives with her husband and two children. She is the author of the bestselling Belle Series which earnt her 2018’s Best New Author in the AusRom Today Reader’s Choice Awards, as well as a nominee for Book of the Year for Interwoven and Author of the Year.
She has a keen passion for reading, writing and travel.
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