General News
7 July, 2024
Captivating story set in a Wimmera town
If I had to describe the book "Edenhope" in just a few words it would be heartwarming, realistic and relatable.
Author Louise Le Nay has captured the story of Marnie and her plight to keep her grandkids safe in an authentic and delicate way that might not always be legal but demonstrates the kind of love and protectiveness only a grandmother can have.
At 63, and sensing the children are in danger from their addict mum and her addict and domestically violent boyfriend, Marnie takes matters into her own hands and travels through the Wimmera, settling in a caravan park in Edenhope.
Mrs Le Nay, living now in Hamilton but previously a long-term resident of Balmoral, published her first book, "The Hero", more than 20 years ago, and it wasn't until Covid struck that the author decided it was the perfect time for another manuscript to be penned.
"It was a good experience," Mrs Le Nay said.
"I did a lot of research into the issues and I brought all that love of the country into it."
She dedicated 2022 to compiling the novel and edited it for about three months before finding an agent to have the book published.
Marnie travels through many small towns in the book but Mrs Le Nay said it wasn't a conscious decision to have the book based in Edenhope.
"In fact, it wasn't even titled 'Edenhope' originally," Ms Le Nay said.
"If we went out for the day, or drove through to South Australia, Edenhope was always a town we passed through.
"It was just she (Marnie) did a loop, and I was looking at a map of these little places I knew and big places, and eventually when she got housing, I had researched they do give housing for safety to people in small towns in caravan parks and she was near there, and I thought that will do.
"I was so pleased that it worked out, because I like the town and I felt more comfortable setting it in Edenhope than my own town because in my own town I know everyone and in Edenhope, I know no-one, so it's completely fictional.
"I have written a completely fictional world in a real town."
Despite this, Mrs Le Nay said all novels had the author's experience in life in them somewhere, even if it wasn't specific.
"Most of us have knowledge of a person who has a drug problem these days because it is everywhere - it is in the city, in the country," Ms Le Nay said.
"And over the years I have known people who have seriously struggled with addiction so it was easy to remember that experience and translate them into this factionary story."
Ms Le Nay said there were moments in the book that were true, and recalled one.
"Marnie is in Melbourne and she is looking for her daughter and she comes across a junkie lying on the ground in a carpark and she goes over and talks to her," she said.
"That did actually happen to me, in a carpark in Melbourne, and it was a female lying there with her bag all strewn everywhere.
"I remember nearly going past but thinking her stuff might get stolen.
"She was breathing and okay so I picked up her stuff and sat there until she came to a bit."
In sticking with the nature of the novel, Ms Le Nay said the ending was realistic - positive and negative.
"But it doesn't end in a complete way," she said.
"The deal with drug issues and family violence is they don't tie up in a bow neatly - they go on and the pain resonates."
Despite the heavy topics, like addiction to drugs, and domestic violence, "Edenhope" has the ability to capture the hearts and minds of people of all ages and hopefully - as it did for me - prove to be a book you just can’t put down.