Inspiration for Western Plains stories

What do a World War I hero, a bush larrikin, a British nurse and a bush hospital matron have in common?

Well, they all exist in two new ebook romances set in Western Queensland in 1924.

Ever had a character or story stick in your head and reverberate around and around?

I read about one World War I Victoria Cross recipient and couldn't stop thinking about his life and experiences in the war. That started me reading lots of biographies of Australian soldiers and nurses who served in WWI. Western Queensland was the home of one of these men and my hero's story suddenly had to be set there.

Who would I choose as the love interests for my returned soldiers come home to the bush?

Up until the mid-20th century small private hospitals existed in  towns across Queensland, as I found out when I researched the history of the Isisford District Hospital in Western Queensland and the Australian Inland Mission Hospital at Birdsville.

The Chairman of the Isisford District Hospital Committee in the 1920s said, half joking, that his real role in hiring nurses for the hospital seemed to be finding wives for the women-starved men of the district, as the nurses he hired often married the locals and stopped working!

So, two nurses became the heroines.

In late 2013 I wrote ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN PLAINS about my tortured war hero, Jack, who meets a British nurse come to Western Queensland to forget the war and all her losses.

As I wrote their story, Jack's war-time friend, Bill Carter kept trying to take over, but I kept him in his place and finished Jack and Fleur's romance.

However, when a reader asked 'What about writing Bill and Marion's romance?', I thought, why not? JOURNEY'S END ON THE WESTERN PLAINS was the result - published on 30 November 2015.

Both are available from Amazon or your favourite ebook publisher.

I hope you enjoy these outback historical  romances. If you do, please write a review or send me a comment. I'd love to hear from you.