A Portarlington author will release a new book in Geelong to tackle the topic of grief and recovery.
Former journalist Pearl Wilson will launch her full-length, contemporary women’s fiction novel, ‘Ticket to Paris’, at the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre on April 15.
Pearl said she enjoyed the challenge of writing her 310-page fiction novel about a woman starting over in the “City of Lights”.
“I really think we live in times where they expect people to have closure and move on too quickly,” she said.
“It’s a bit unreasonable and I’ve seen a lot of people really struggle with this to hide their feelings.”
Pearl said she had been working on the novel for a while and rewrote parts of the original 2019 manuscript during the COVID lockdown after the Notre Dame cathedral caught fire.
“Even though it’s fiction, you still can’t ignore things that are happening in the world,” she said.
“The main character in the book goes to Notre Dame quite a bit to contemplate how her life has changed.
“It was about a cathedral coming back after a terrible loss and it was the same for the character.”
Pearl said she would launch her book on the fourth anniversary of the Notre Dame fire to writing groups across the Bellarine.
“I’m not saying they’re (writing groups) all coming to my launch, but a lot that I network with are, so I’m really happy to celebrate with them,” she said.
“I think it’s important for everyone to always support any Australian writer because it’s such a crowded market.”
