THE FAMILY WAY
FIONA LOWE WRITES ABOUT STRONG WOMEN DEALING WITH DIFFICULT ISSUES AND HER LATEST WORK DOESN’T SHY FROM DRAMA .
May mothers everywhere have a contented family gathering tomorrow, free of the tensions and family politics that frequently flare up when “loved ones’’ come together.
It is after all Mother’s Day and who would try to manipulate such a sacred time to put one over everyone else? Who indeed.
In the world of the Jamiesons amid the serenity of Victoria’s high country, the gathering of the clan on Mother’s Day is more like lighting a wick than a moment of deep love. For starters, Margaret Jamieson – the wealthy matriarch, has always been tightfisted and isn’t averse to manipulating her brood, putting down the two daughters while holding up her son Cameron as some paragon of virtue, and isn’t that a long way off the mark. But the old dear’s health is in decline and with it, any semblance of control among the others as rivalries come out of hibernation and secrets are about to be detonated.
Poor Sarah and her hubby Alex are going great guns in business but does that impress her mum? And will Margaret be impressed as Sarah does what she always does and runs after everyone else on Mother’s Day, never mind the fact it’s supposed to be her day too.
And why does Alex clear off to a business emergency early in the piece and not show up again until the party’s over?
Cameron is plotting. Enough said. Then there’s Ellie, who’s spent years until now staying well clear of mother and the strings attached to her inheritance, but in recent times has returned from Asia, with a young son in tow, to work on the other side of town.
So there you have it. The paper is lit – and did someone say inheritance?
As things become heated in the kitchen and Ellie and Cameron square off over how much was spent by their parents in sending them to uni, Sarah explodes: “Shut up, both of you! … Inheritance is a gift, not a right, and our mother is very much alive, thank you very much. And she’s waiting for dessert.’’
In her previous incarnations, author Fiona Lowe worked as a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker.
“I worked mostly with very disadvantaged families who barely had enough money to survive, but I have met master emotional manipulators. You don’t have to be wealthy to control, you just need a personality disorder,’’ Lowe says.
Birthright is her 30th published book. Most have been in the romance genre. In terms of publishing success, 2012 was a watershed moment for her.
“That was a golden year. I won the Romance Writers of America’s RITA award and the Romance Writers of Australia’s RuBY award (at a convention in Surfers Paradise) for my breakout novel, Boomerang
Bride. We (Lowe, her husband and children) had lived in the USA for three years and I channelled every cross-cultural confusion I’d ever experienced into that book. I’m still stunned it won and equally thrilled.’’
Her medical and psychology background and experience as an author in observing people and situations have come to the fore again for her latest book.
Birthright steps well beyond the romance themes, although they are there of course, as it explores family dynamics.
“I chose Mother’s Day to start Birthright for a few reasons,’’ Lowe says.
“I believe Mother’s Day is a day fraught with unrealistic expectations, which invariably lead to disappointment. This was the perfect set-up for Sarah, the eldest Jamieson sibling. I learned early on to stage manage Mother’s Day to get the day I wanted. It’s my advice to every mother.
“Also, I think that while a woman is a daughter, it can be hard to have the Mother’s Day she wants. That said, Mother’s Day is not a huge deal in my family but for a lot of women it is and I’ve been told almost every disaster story possible over the years.
“In Birthright, Mother’s Day brings the siblings together for the first time in years. Sarah just wants everyone to get along, Cameron is sizing up the situation and Ellie, the youngest, would do almost anything to be somewhere far, far away. When siblings gather, it doesn’t take long for childhood grudges to reappear and adult sibling rivalry comes to the fore, along with a hint of inheritance impatience, sandwich generation issues and elder abuse, all of which feature in the novel. It introduces the family and sets up the novel for the rollercoaster ride and begs the question, can we trust our family?’’
Lowe’s inspiration came from many quarters, including the real-life battles of mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s family.
“Inheritance is the spine of the book but all the characters are also dealing with other issues in their lives. During the Gina Rinehart battle with her children over the trust fund, I considered the impact of great wealth on a family,’’ she says.
“Soon after, on talkback radio, a man rang in saying his family had imploded over $2500. That’s when I started thinking about inheritance. It isn’t cold hard cash, it has a lot of emotion tied to it and it’s the emotion that leads people to behave in unexpected ways.’’
Lowe began writing in 1995 while at home with a new baby. It took four manuscripts and 10 years before she sold her first book in 2005.
“Back in the day, I managed to write two or three shorter novels a year. Now, writing multigenerational novels involving eight or more characters, it’s a struggle to do one book a year,’’ she says.
“I take about seven months to write the book, then there is a month working on structural edits, a month of copy edits and then tweaking the typesetting, so it does take about a year. The last three months have been fully consumed finishing a book and promoting Birthright so no gardening or cooking was done at all! I’ve just come blinking back into the light and reintroduced myself to my husband.
“My sons are now both at university so I no longer need to juggle school commitments but I think perhaps I am getting slower at everything or writing more complex books, which take more time. Right now, my life is out of balance and I need to work on that.’’
Lowe needs to work on relaxing tomorrow too when, like every other mum, she puts her feet up, at least for a while. Chances are that instead of reading proofs for her next book, she’ll choose a good book by someone else.
The writing was on the wall for Lowe when she would rework the endings to the books she was reading in her head.
“I think the first time I rewrote the ending of a book – I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name of it – I had been horrified about the treatment of a woman and her reaction to that treatment. Rewriting it was likely one of my first feminist acts. I gave her power. It’s probably why I write books about strong women dealing with difficult issues.’’