Book launch news article

This article appeared in the SouthCoast Register on 25 November 2022

A journey through the archives inspired author Carole Lander to step back in time, and look at Nowra through the eyes of a young resident from a prominent family.

The year, 1918. The resident: Ann Scotchmer, aged 11.

Sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands are returning from the Great War; the Spanish Flu is spreading; and Nowra is coming to grips with changes that are turning the world on its head.

It all comes together in Ms Lander’s new book, Ann Scotchmer’s Diary – to be launched at the Nowra Museum on Sunday (November 27).

While Ann’s diary from the novel is a work of historical fiction, the events are based in fact.

As Ms Lander explained, she pored over local newspaper archives and took a deep dive into family history to write the novel.

“My partner’s family comes from here, their ancestors are two families of Nowra in the early 20^th century: the Scotchmers and the Fitzgeralds,” she said.

“There are a lot of records in the newspapers from the time – because they were prominent families in town, they were written about.

“There are some records that my partner also has from earlier ancestors, so there as quite a lot of information to draw on.

“Being historical fiction, I padded out the facts with plausible fiction. Significant events happened in the family as a result of the Spanish Flu, and so on.”

Carole Lander even met Ann Scotchmer in her later years, and memories of the time spent together further informed the fictional diaries.

She said Ann was a true character, in part, because of her formative years described in the book.

“I actually met her as an elderly woman, before she died at the age of 104 in 2012, and she was extremely feisty… she had a strong personality,” Ms Lander said.

“I really think that what happened to her in her childhood formed that character.

“She had to be strong-willed, had to manage on her own. Without giving away too much of what happened, she had to look after her little brothers after her mother died – that’s obviously informed her character as she grew older.”

Since arriving in Nowra for the book launch, Ms Lander has made stops at many of the sites featured in her story.

Much of the research and writing for her book was done during pandemic lockdowns in Melbourne, Ms Lander’s home city.

It meant she was poring over maps for months, and finally visiting the sites was a fascinating experience.

“I’ve been looking at maps of Nowra since the beginning of 2020, and now I can see it: Kinghorne St and the museum, Junction St where the Scotchmers had their tailor shop,” Ms Lander said.

“They lived on Moss St, which would have been a quiet street with a few very nice houses… now there seems to be all sorts of things on that road.

“The [Nowra] bridge had been recently built at the time – it’s now being replaced.”

The official launch of Ann Scotchmer’s Diary will be at the Nowra Historical Society on November 27, at 2pm.

Descendants of the Scotchmer and Fitzgerald families will be part of the launch.

Copies of Ann Scotchmer’s Diary will be available at the launch, at Dymocks Nowra, and the Nowra Library.