AUTHOR OF THE MONTH: Melissa Ashley What at first began as research for a PhD dissertation on Elizabeth Gould has now eventuated into your debut novel, The Birdman’s Wife. What sparked your initial interest in Elizabeth Gould and at what point of your research did you decide to start writing her story as a work of historical fiction? It all started when I fell in love with a poet, and with his poem about a bird.  We became avid birdwatchers together.  Writers, too.  When he rescued a ringneck parrot and we adopted it as a pet, a friend gave me a book about caring for birds and a biography about John Gould, the famous ‘father’ of Australian ornithology.  That was how I discovered that his wife, Elizabeth, created the beautiful images of birds he wrote about in his exquisitely illustrated folios. She was portrayed as such a shadowy figure yet her work as an artist was so key to his fame and the history of birds that I became enthralled with her. I began researching Elizabeth’s life in earnest and the more I learned about her, the more determined I became to uncover her story. I’ve always loved stories … Continue reading AUTHOR OF THE MONTH: Melissa Ashley