Just as with an orchard, it takes time and work to create a book, and many hands to nurture it, prune it and make it productive. I am deeply grateful to all of those who assisted in shaping The Last of the Apple Blossom, and to those who helped it bloom.
My heartfelt thanks to Naomie Clark-Port, my Apple Angel. Naomie is an orchardist in the Huon Valley, tending the orchard that has been in her family for many generations. I called her, out of the blue, with three pages of questions about apple growing. Even though I was a complete stranger to her, she responded with overwhelming warmth and generosity right from the start. Her helpfulness extended to a private tour of her orchard, cool room and old packing shed, and a guided drive through the Huon Valley. Naomie also set up interviews with some of the orchardists from the area who lived through the times described in this novel. And to top it all off, she agreed to read and fact check a draft of The Last of the Apple Blossom. (Any mistakes are my own and certainly not Naomie’s.) If you’re in the Huon Valley make sure to drop in to Frank’s Cider House and Cafe in Franklin and try some of Naomie’s award-winning cider.
A soul-felt thank you to Monica McInerney, who mentored me through many drafts of The Last of the Apple Blossom as part of the ASA’s Mentorship Program. Monica was a hard taskmistress but a loving one, and a constant source of wisdom, warmth and support. Thank you, Monica, this novel would not be the book it is without you. I will never forget your kindness.
Thank you to the orchardists who allowed me to pick their brains over cups of tea and cake: John Marshall at Ranelagh, and Phil Cawthorne and Frank Clark (no relation to Naomie) at Wattle Grove. Their stories were always fascinating, often funny and sometimes heartbreaking.
My husband and I got chatting with Tony Evans at the Summer Kitchen Bakery in Ranelagh. When we discovered he knew a lot about apples, we invited Tony to our Airbnb (a converted apple shed no less) for dinner. Tony regaled us with tales of working on his family’s orchard as well as the larger orchards in the Huon Valley.
Moya Fyfe wrote a haunting essay for the Griffith Review, ‘When the Apple Cart Tipped’, about her childhood growing up on an orchard and her memories of the orchard being bulldozed into the ground as part of the Tree Pull Scheme. Moya met with me to expand on those memories and painted a vivid picture of what it was like being a kid during those times.
A cheeky thanks to Tony Rice whose description of being a nine-year-old boy at the time of the fires gave me an insight into how Annie’s boys would have reacted. He also gave me the delicious detail of the apple trucks wiping out every guidepost along the Huon Highway.
Max and Dawn Oates’s memories of surviving the 1967 bushfires in the Huon Valley gave me goosebumps. My sister, Katy, and her husband, Tony, introduced me to Max and Dawn in Crabtree and also to Tony Rice. Thank you, my darling sister, for the introductions and for lending me your car when I needed to make yet another dash down the Huon Valley.
The Living History Museum in Cygnet is a treasure trove of information about the area, the apple industry and the locals. Thank you to the volunteers who keep it running. The information on the ‘new settlers’ was especially fascinating and useful.
To Associate Professor Anne-Marie Williams, Tasmanian School of Medicine, Forensic Anthropologist, thank you for your expert advice on the limits of pathology in the late 1960s.
A big thank you to the librarians in the Hobart Reading Room at the State Library of Tasmania, for your enthusiasm, patience and helpfulness. I loved the hours I spent there poring over Tree Pull Scheme applications, Cygnet school records, Apple and Pear Marketing Authority reports, Department of Agriculture information and Rural Reconstruction Board correspondence.
The idea for this novel was niggling away at me for some time before it finally took root, watered by tears and fertilised with determination, at a Writing in Paradise retreat led by the dynamic Shelley Kenigsberg and ably assisted by David Leser. Some of those first handwritten words made it into the finished book. Thank you for bringing them into the light.
I couldn’t have spent as much time in Tasmania or the Huon Valley without the generosity of my beautiful friend Penny McDonald. Thank you for all that you did for me, Penny. This novel would have been a lot harder to research without your support. My thanks also to Vicky McDonald for her hospitality.
There are two women who’ve aided and abetted my writing ambitions since 2008. Together we have laughed, cried, sworn and celebrated our writing and our lives. This journey would be a lot lonelier and a lot less fun without Sue Goldstiver and Jodie Miller travelling alongside me. And an extra special hug (I know you love them, really) to Sue, for a sterling edit along the way.
To my darling Christine Evans, thank you for your unwavering belief in this novel and for your informed and thoughtful writerly advice. You have always been a true friend and a spectacularly talented writer. And thank you to Rachel Baily, another talented writer, for synopsis advice and for holding my hand when the offers came in.
Thank you to Fiona McIntosh for her excellent fiction writing Masterclass. The ongoing support and camaraderie from Fiona and the entire Masterclass community has been a blessing.
The 2020 RWA Conference organisers did a mighty job creating a virtual conference during the ever-changing conditions of that year. Much gratitude to the volunteers who organised it and to those who facilitated the online pitches. It was because of my pitch to Nicola Robinson from Harlequin that you hold this book in your hands.
Which brings me to a massive acknowledgment to Nicola Robinson herself. Thank you for believing in The Last of the Apple Blossom and for your thorough structural edit. I do love research, but the book is so much better without all the ‘bog’. Annabel Blay took charge of the manuscript for the next edits and in her kind and generous hands the novel was polished to a beautiful shine. Thank you for your heartfelt and encouraging comments, Annabel, you are a joy to work with. And a grateful thanks to Annabel Adair for her eagle-eyed proofreading skills.
The beautiful cover was designed by the talented Christine Armstrong. The image is the perfect blend of warmth and wistfulness, while the ghostly apple blossom reminds me of the days long gone when the Huon Valley was covered in a blanket of pink and white.
Thank you to everyone at Harlequin and HarperCollins, especially Jo Munroe for her marketing panache and Natika Palka for her fabulous publicity prowess.
Deep gratitude and love to my husband, Ken, who learnt almost as much about apple orchards as I did during the research process. Thank you for your support, your patience and for making me smile when times were tough.