Those Hamilton Sisters is richly imbued with my experiences of motherhood, love, family bonds and growing up in the lush, enchanted tropics of Australia. Noah Vale is a fictional place, based on the rainforest valley I call home. The majority of magnificent locations described herein are inspired by real, sometimes secret, places in my beloved Far North Queensland.
This story was conceived fifteen years ago, when I was a new mother, living in a quaint villa overlooking a sea of sugarcane. Sitting up late at night, breastfeeding for hours on end, I would listen to ripe mangoes falling on our tin roof with a whomp, letting my overtired imagination run to wild imaginings. One such night I was gripped, viscerally, by the image of an amethystine python uncoiling from the rafters above me, and dropping down on my baby boy in his hammock. That motif would not let me go. In the tempest of sleep deprivation and postnatal anxiety, something else arrived then, too: a spirited character named Esther, with three plucky and resilient daughters she wanted me to take care of.
In the writing and publishing of Esther’s story, so many generous and talented people have taken care of me, too . . .
First and foremost, thank you to my fabulous and amazing agent, Selwa Anthony, for championing Those Hamilton Sisters. In countless books read over the years, I saw Selwa effusively credited by authors in their Acknowledgments, and I still have to pinch myself that now she’s my agent, working her magic for me.
I am also tremendously indebted to the brilliant Alexandra Nahlous for her editing genius and key guidance in the developmental stage.
To my beautiful Publisher, Tegan Morrison, thank you for falling in love with my story. Your vision for Those Hamilton Sisters has been wise, perceptive and truly elevating. You’ve made publishing my first book an utter dream.
Those Hamilton Sisters found a most wonderful home with Echo Publishing, and Bonnier Books UK. I have so much gratitude for the warm and passionate Echo Publishing team: Benny Agius, James Elms and Emily Banyard. Huge thanks to my UK editor, Claire Johnson-Creek, and my copyeditor, Sandra Ferguson, for their expertise and finesse.
This lush book cover was designed by Louisa Maggio, who has perfectly evoked Heartwood and those Hamilton sisters. Thank you!
Beta Readers are unsung heroes for wading through ugly early drafts, and I thank mine – Ally, Jenn, Lyndell, Jane, Libby, Karen, Amanda and Em – for their thoughtful feedback. Thank you especially to my Bossiest Beta Reader™, Kate DiGiuseppe, who has been my counsellor, cheerleader and ‘unofficial’ manager through everything. Kate Hardy is named after my Kate – because there had to be one surprise left in this book for her.
I was also blessed by the big-hearted encouragement of Annie Love, Life Coach extraordinaire, during my journey to publication.
For my research, I am most grateful to the Cairns Historical Society and Research Centre for their generosity, patience and expertise. Any blunders are entirely my own.
I am forever thankful for my husband’s family – Des and Vicki Kenny, and Wendy Kenny – who shared their firsthand recollections of growing up in Far North Queensland during the 1950s and ’60s.
I also drew intimately from my own birth experiences in writing Fable’s birth scene, and I want to pay tribute to the book which prepared and empowered me for those births: JuJu Sundin’s Birth Skills, with Sarah Murdoch.
My husband, Liam Kenny, has always been my first reader. Thank you, Wiam, for declaring me a ‘famous author’ when I was really just a teary, tiredly scribbling new mother, and for loving me, and my writing, at our rawest.
Thank you to my bewitching sister, Aleta, for being my second reader. I hope I have been able to honour the absolute privilege of sisterhood in this. To my brother, Rowan, I just want to say: ‘Roundhouse Bodalla, I saw it first!’
Mum and Dad, thank you for giving me a farm-girl childhood, deprived of television, with a bedroom full of books and grandparents in a tiny cottage just over the hill. Thank you, Mum, for modelling determined, resilient womanhood, and Dad for long poetry recitals, nature commentary and waiting for Mum to grow up. Because of you Joy is, both literally and figuratively, my middle name.
Finally, I want thank my children – Dash, Aurora, Eleanor and Teddy – who must sometimes feel like this book is my favourite child. Thank you, Kenny Kids, for endless cups of tea and your unswerving belief in me. Achieving my publishing dream might have taken longer for having birthed four of you, but this accomplishment is infinitely sweeter for being shared with you.