Orphan of The King
In 1949, 8-year old, Margaret was stolen from Britain and rehomed in Australia along with thousands of children. Fifty years later, she finds the mother who abandoned her, and reveals how she suffered in Catholic Church Institutions for eight years. Her plan is to expose the scandal to destroy her mother's new family. She wants retribution, but after discovering a web of lies intended to hide her true identity, realises what she needs is something entirely different.
I've continued to work on this novel, even writing two entirely different stories as I searched for the 'right' way to tell my tale and do justice to the hundreds who lived it. After winning an assessment with the incredible Jenn McLeod, a well known Australian Author, I've refined and polished it even more. Jenn's feedback has been invaluable and encouraged me to combine the two stories to make a stronger, more compelling one. I'll admit I found this daunting and couldn't look at it for a couple of weeks. But I eventually crawled into my big girl britches, and what I have now is a story with more heart, drama and family secrets, that I'm very proud of. I'm in the final stages of polishing before I send it to beta readers again, including one of the inspiring women who has shared her story with me.
I'm overjoyed to see the light at the end of this novel, and am deeply thankful for all the help I have had along the way. I will pitch Orphan of The King to some of Australia's top 5 Publishers at a National Conference in October and cross everything it sounds appealing to them. In the meantime, I'll continue to research my next novel which involves three of my favourite things: Shoes! More family secrets, and World War 2 history.
Keep smiling
Cat x