Writing authentically about a real person, especially one being investigated for canonisation, is a daunting task that requires not just mindful research and reflection, but also devotion. Devotion to truth, to a frequent examination of my motivation and objectives, and devotion to the woman at the centre of my novel. Fortunately, Eileen O’Connor inspires devotion, not just in me, but in her sisters, her contemporaries, and many of us who have come to know about her since her

Part one: attention to detail in the historical backdrop to the story To write a historical fiction novel requires two things: research – cold, hard, accurate facts; and inspiration – something personal that touches the writer’s heart and makes the story authentic.   I imagined Eileen and her friend giggling over the difficulties of a girl dressed like this managing to do anything courageous. Contemporaneous events and the details of how people lived their daily lives are so

A modern saint "The first thing people would see, when visiting after [Eileen O'Connor] died, was the telephone by her bed. They'd say,...

Sometimes, you need to see something more than once to appreciate its story. My recent visit to the Eileen O’Connor Centre in Coogee was...

I was lucky enough to make a trip to Sydney to see the new museum that commemorates Eileen O’Connor, a young woman who suffered terribly...

Where better to sit with Life, than in a graveyard? I didn’t sit, as it happened. I laid on the grass between the rows of graves and kept...

Eileen O’Connor met Father Edward McGrath when he was called in to assist her grieving family after the early death of her father, which...

When Eileen O’Connor, Australia’s saint in waiting, was born on February 19th, 1892, the world was a very different place. Antibiotics...