What inspired you to write your memoir?
This memoir is my mother’s story. I wrote it as a way of addressing the wrong the was done to her where she was made to feel shame and guilt and consequently felt the need to keep her personal tragedy a secret. With her oft repeated axiom in mind (You can say anything you like about me when I’m dead.) I decided to tell the world my mother’s secret after she passed away and with that telling, expunge all trace of guilt or shame.
About your Book:
How does a mother cope when she is forced to walk away from her three children and never see them again?
That is what happened to JB’s mother, Myrtle. Eventually, rescued from her despair by tall, dark and handsome George Rowley who fell in love her, Myrtle started a new life and had seven more children. She buried the grief of losing her first children deep within and kept her pain secret. JB and her siblings were unaware of the existence of Myrtle’s first three children until after she died.
Desperate to know how such a thing could happen to a devoted and caring mother, JB went on a journey to find out. What she discovered was a heartbreaking story of loss. It was a long time before JB was able to work out that her mother kept her early life and her first family secret out of misplaced guilt and shame.
To redress that, JB decided to tell the whole world her mother’s secret. Whisper My Secret is a proud declaration that Myrtle did nothing deserving of guilt or shame. It is also a story of romance and enduring love.
How did you decide how to publish your book and where is it published through:
Whisper My Secret was originally published as a paperback through Zeus Publications in Australia and later I published it as an ebook through Amazon.
How do you see writing a Memoir as different from writing other genres of books?
I was not at all comfortable with writing this style of book but felt it was a story I had to tell so I persevered. The research component is probably the most significant difference. Of course fiction requires research but it is not as extensive as that required for a memoir. There was a lot of information that I was not able to access directly so I had to use imagination and supposition to fill in the gaps.
Author Bio:
JB Rowley is a writer of books, teller of stories and teacher of English who lives Melbourne (Australia).
JB Rowley grew up in a small Australian town called Orbost in the state of Victoria as one of seven children. She spent my childhood chasing snakes and lizards down hollow logs, playing Hansel and Gretel in the bush with her brothers, climbing trees, searching the local rubbish tip for books to read and generally behaving like a feral child. When she wasn’t scrapping with her brothers she was curled up in the hay shed reading books.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Book On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.facebook.com/BarnesRowley
https://twitter.com/jbrowley1
