The joy of publishing her first novel at the age of 74 has author Cheryl Adam in what she describes almost as a state of disbelief.
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Someone in Switzerland had given me a starter pistol and I had it hidden in my sock. I pulled it out and held it to the back of his ear and told him if he wouldn’t let us out I’d shoot him.
- Author Cheryl Adam
The idea for her debut book Lillian’s Eden began as a screenplay almost 40 years ago while the Melbourne-based writer was living in South Africa.
She shelved the idea when she married and started a family, only to have her love of writing reignited after her husband suffered a stroke.
“It was a bit of an escape from being his carer. It took me 12 years to finish,” Adam said.
The fictional tale is set in rural post-war Australia. it tells the story of a 1950s family struggling to survive. After their farm is destroyed Lilian agrees to the demands of her philandering, violent husband to move to the coastal town of Eden to help look after his aunt.
“It was a time when women weren’t allowed to drive or even have a bank account,’ she said.
Adam spent her youth in Eden before travelling the globe, and draws on these experiences in creating her fictional work.
One of these experiences was being kidnapped while hitchhiking through Sweden while in her 20s.
“An English friend and I were hitchhiking and got picked up by a fellow in a Volkswagen and he wouldn’t let us out of the car. He wasn’t taking us where we wanted to go, he was taking us to the mountains,” she said.
“Someone in Switzerland had given me a starter pistol and I had it hidden in my sock. I pulled it out and held it to the back of his ear and told him if he wouldn’t let us out I’d shoot him.
“He left us in the snow at night, but luckily a truck stopped to pick us up and took us to the border with Norway.”
She said the freedom Eden offered her as a child is rare for Australian children in modern society.
“There were great characters in Eden in those days,” she said.
“We would dive off the wharf, swim, go horse riding, cliff climbing, fishing. It was a fabulous experience.
“Our parents didn’t know where we were until you came home in the dark.
“I think kids are too controlled these days.”
Adam will launch the book at Eden’s Killer Whale Museum on Saturday, November 10 from 12pm.
“I love going back to Eden, and I would live there if I could, but my family is here in Melbourne,” she said.
Adam said while women in Australia have found more freedom since her childhood days, many of the same issues remain.
“There’s always challenges, but we have to take more responsibility for our actions,” she said.
“Some of the role models could be better.”
