By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on March 31, 2018
THERE’S no such thing as a dull moment for renowned Albany author Dianne Wolfer.
If she’s not writing or editing a piece of work in her study, she’s off around the world chasing snippets of history, gathering writer’s inspiration from the comfort of a café lounge, or speaking with school students about literacy.
2018 is a busy year for Wolfer, who is releasing two new books, speaking at multiple schools and groups across the state about her books, organising her packed-out school schedule for Book Week, and launching her latest historical fiction, In the Lamplight, in both WA and in Harefield, England – In the Lamplight’s primary location.
She took a moment from her busy agenda to speak with The Weekender about her third and final instalment of the historical fiction saga Albanians have come to know and love her for.
While on a trip with her husband Peter to Peronne, France in 2003, Wolfer said the pair stopped over in London.
She said she was keen to visit Harefield, a small village north-west of London, as it housed the site of the first Australian World War I auxiliary hospital.
“It was a village that was completely changed by WWI, and I was really interested in that,” she said.
And so, In the Lamplight was born.
The first two books in her historical fiction series, Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy, travel through time from the beginning of WWI and its major events.
Wolfer said it was only natural to complete the trilogy with In the Lamplight’s plot ending in 1919.
“The war changed Australia forever,” she said.
“We often look at what happened during the war, but not always at what happened afterwards, when all these men were coming home damaged.”
When closing in on her final manuscript last year, Wolfer said she was aware of the possible timing her book launch could have – April 2018 coinciding with the centenary of the end of WWI.
“It was a three-year project, because the research was so time-consuming,” she said.
“Each little fact had to be cross-referenced, and I’d often get carried away with the excitement of it all.
“So, I knew that if I wanted it to hit the shelves in April, I had to have it to the printers by October.
“We were working around the clock.”
Wolfer explored historical war resources in Albany, Perth, Canberra and Harefield to create the beautifully-presented, Australian-English perspective on the first world war that is In the Lamplight.
She is excited to officially launch the book at Carlyles Function Centre on April 9 and in Harefield in May.
“It’s all go!” she said.
For more information on the launch or to get your hands on a copy of In the Lamplight, visit spydus.albanylibrary.com.au/events or Paperbark Merchants on York Street.
