That thought has been very much on our minds lately, and it is the reason we begin this newsletter with Natalie Scott.
Natalie has written novels, short stories, non-fiction, books for children and audiobooks. She has been a columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, contributed to The Griffith Review, Southerly, Westerly and Meanjin, and taught creative writing at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University. She has been writing, in one form or another, for most of her long life.
She completed her latest novel at the age of 97.
Her latest book, The Rim of the Sky, is launched at Berkelouw Balgowlah on Thursday 21st May, and is released next week.
Set against the darkening world of Tsarist Russia in 1881, The Rim of the Sky follows Elizaveta Georgievna Barvoskaya, a young noblewoman who abandons the comfort and certainty of her privileged world to join the revolutionary underground, and finds herself moving inexorably toward one of history's most seismic moments.
It is ambitious historical fiction written with deep feeling and a fascination for people caught in the sweep of history. Natalie's curiosity, imagination and commitment to storytelling are extraordinary. The Rim of the Sky is the kind of novel that reminds you what the form is capable of.
We are enormously proud to publish it.
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Photo of Natalie Scott by Julie Adams.