A part-time Carrickalinga resident has released her debut novel, which is based on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Dianne Maguire’s What Matters Most follows the story of paediatrician Mia Sandhurst as she discovers her husband Eric’s affair, and the resulting fallout.
Around the same time, 15-year-old Rachel Hooper is admitted to Mia’s care.
Rachel, who has overdosed on alcohol at a party, is dealing with her own betrayal from someone she should be able to trust.
Rachel and Mia both want to hold their families together, but as Eric’s lies and absences intensify, Mia decides she has to see his lover for herself. It is when she follows them and sees them together, that she realises Eric will not be coming back to her.
So begins Mia’s foray into a string of new, outlandish behaviours.
Mia and Rachel strike up a friendship and Rachel at last speaks out. And both Mia and Rachel discover, each in her own way, that she alone holds the key to her future.
Dianne is a former social worker. She said the book was a story about self-discovery in middle age, misplaced loyalty and how the choices we make determine who we are.
In 2007, she changed from writing child welfare policy to writing creatively when she began a professional writing course at Adelaide College of the Arts.
The following year she won the Pauline Walsh Prize in the Eastwood/Hills Regional Annual Literary Awards and was highly commended for a second entry.
In 2010 she co-wrote a collection of non-fiction short stories titled It’s About Time, on behalf of children’s charity ‘Time for Kids’.
She said three factors inspired her to write What Matters Most; her experience in child protection, her experience in life, and her love for the Fleurieu Peninsula, where she does most of her writing.
“It’s an amalgam of lots of children I’ve worked with and lots of families,” Dianne said.
“I wanted something entertaining and not too descriptive.
“I think Mia Sandhurst’s journey through betrayal is really good.
“It’s very human... It’s a bit humourous.”
Dianne is currently writing her second novel, which is also based on the Fleurieu.
For more information about Dianne and What Matters Most, visit her author page.
Article taken from Victor Harbor Times
