Kath O'Connor's posthumous debut novel, Inheritance, is 'a little parable' for living in the moment, says her mentor and friend, the acclaimed author Inga Simpson.
However, there was a hitch: O'Connor was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer.
After hearing O'Connor's pitch, Simpson agreed to help: "We got on really well – and as if I could say no. The premise draws heavily on O'Connor's family history: Her grandmother, Eileen, died of ovarian cancer in 1950 when she was 48. It was only upon inspection of their death certificates decades after their passing that their families discovered the truth – and were able to track the passage down the generations of the deadly BRCA1 gene.
"Rose is very proud, very stubborn, and it's complicated – they're in the middle of this fertility process and discussing having children, and this really throws a spanner in the works."Kath didn't have children, I don't have children … Maybe [writing] is a way of thinking some part of us might live on," Simpson says.Simpson is a seasoned editor, but even so, working on O'Connor's manuscript was "a big learning experience", she says.
In Inheritance, Nellie describes her ordeal: "After twelve days of treatments, my abdomen is red raw, with blisters and blackened areas."
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why Amazon’s Daisy Jones and the Six is missing that star qualityAn ambitious adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s hit novel tries to involve us in a tale of stardom but something is off
Read more »
The Bell of the World by Gregory Day review – a mellifluous crescendo of Australian nature writingThe acclaimed author and poet has a long history writing about our relationship with place. His hypnotic new novel feels like a culmination, imploring us to listen
Read more »
'Object of lust': Keira Knightley's Pirates of the Caribbean confessionKeira Knightley is no stranger to the spotlight, but when it comes to her career, she confessed there were moments she felt 'caged.'
Read more »
‘Bullied and undermined’: Thorpe says she quit Greens over treatment by MPsA month after she quit the Greens, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says she filed a complaint to the parliament’s workplace support services last year.
Read more »
‘Bullied and undermined’: Thorpe says she quit Greens over treatment by MPsA month after she quit the Greens, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe says she filed a complaint to the parliament’s workplace support services last year.
Read more »
Bombers assistant coach diagnosed with blood cancerA key member of Essendon’s coaching team, Dale Tapping, will continue in his role while undergoing weekly treatment for a type of blood cancer, the club says.
Read more »