Featured Interview With Laurel Hosking
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in South Australia in a region called the Adelaide Hills. The town I grew up in was smallish, I still remember when the first supermarket opened up. My home was an old Australian colonial style, with five acres of gardens and forests. I was very lucky to have that, and it fed my imagination.
The family were very matriarchal, with the history of the women in the family taught with pride.
I’ve always lived in older 19th-century homes. My current home is a historical property on 12 acres, which we are restoring. It is a labour of love. I live here with my husband of 25 years, and four children, 2 cats, a dog, plus one guinea pig. My family are my inspiration. The traditions given to me by my mother I have handed down to my children, stories, and imagination and history.
My eldest has a severe disability and I am a full-time carer. My writing, helps me unwind and walk different paths in my mind’s eye.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I can’t remember a time when books were not in my life. In the same way, I can not remember a time when I was not creating stories. As a child, I had a love for Ballet, so my first story creation would be story ballets. Eventually, I put this skill in my career as a Ballet Teacher, creating three or four-act story ballets. Now, my stories are more detailed and have found their outlet in writing.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love puzzles and mysteries, and history, Therefore anything along those lines will interest me. Dan Brown, Barbara Erskine, Clive Cussler, Agatha Christie.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Rosemary Labyrinth came to me with an idea of generational memory. What would happen if we inherited memory from the past? What would drive that? Why would it be important? How could it be resolved?
I don’t want to say too much about the mystery to be solved, as Act one of The Rosemary Labyrinth is working out the mystery. I will say, I tried to avoid this particular mystery, as I considered it too cliched, but the more I investigated it, the more inconsistencies I found and the more intrigued I became.
Over the two years, it took to write this, I would find myself excited, as a wild idea would suddenly have strength in historical fact. That gave me a huge buzz of excitement. I love hearing from people which section was their favourite, and then communicating an anecdote about the writing of it.
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