Tell Us Your Back Story with Esther Campion

Posted on July 27, 2017 by ausromtoday in Tell Us Your Backstory // 0 Comments

Tell Us Your Back Story with Esther Campion

Thanks AusRom Today for asking me to give you a little of my backstory.

Leaving Ocean Road began while I was driving on a family holiday somewhere near Keith in South Australia. We got stuck behind a rusty old Chevy on the back of a trailer. As we pootled along behind, the Chevy took me back to one of my favourite books of all time, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. I began to wish I could write about a woman like Francesca and I remembered the advice of another Australian author, Diane Hester, who said, write the book you’d like to read.

When I got home, I started re-reading letters from my husband from a time long before we were married when he lived in Crete. I also found letters from an old Irish friend and began to wonder what would happen if we made different choices when we’re younger, how differently our lives might pan out. Ellen started to take shape in my head as a driving force for the story. When we meet her, she has been living in Australia for twenty years and is struggling to cope after the recent death of her Greek husband. She has a great friend, Tracey, who I really enjoyed writing in a supporting role. When Gerry Clancy, a blast from Ellen’s Irish past, shows up on her doorstep, Tracey helps her to put on a brave front and look like she’s keeping it together both emotionally and every other way. Although Gerry just might be the catalyst to pull Ellen out of her pit of grief, his visit brings with it a new set of problems Ellen never imagined she’d have to face.

The initial inspiration for the setting came from where I was living at the time in Port Lincoln, South Australia and before I knew it, I was drawing on a one-time trip to Santorini in my twenties and revisiting stories with my husband about his time in Greece. Ireland was the easiest setting to write, especially West Cork, a beautiful place close to my heart.

I’m so excited for Leaving Ocean Road to get to readers and hear what they think. Anyone who would like to keep up with my writing journey is welcome to check out my author page at Facebook. I am most grateful for you interest.

Leaving Ocean Road
Esther Campion

‘Leaving Ocean Road is warm, wise and full of humour.’ Cathy Kelly bestselling author of It Started with Paris, Between Sisters and Secrets of a Happy Marriage.

God damn it, Gerry Clancy, couldn’t you have left well enough alone and stayed in Cork?

Twenty years ago, Ellen Constantinopoulos left her beloved Ireland to make a new life in Australia. She is now a popular local in a small coastal town, but struggling to cope with the death of her much-loved Greek husband, Nick. Ellen finds her world turned upside down when an unexpected visitor lands on her doorstep. The arrival of Gerry Clancy, her first love from Ireland, may just be the catalyst that pulls Ellen out of her pit of grief, but it will also trigger a whole new set of complications for her and those she holds dear.

Home is where the heart is – but where exactly is home? Can Ellen and Gerry’s rekindled romance withstand the passage of time, family, young-adult children with their own lives, and the shock disclosure of a long-held secret that will put all their closest relationships at risk?

Set in Ireland, Greece and small-town coastal Australia, Leaving Ocean Road is a warm-hearted, poignant story about treasuring our memories while celebrating our new beginnings, from wonderful new storyteller Esther Campion.

Hachette