BOOK LAUNCH with Geraldine Star: Shee-Oak VIA TEAMS

Join Geraldine Star and Julie Janson as they discuss Geraldine’s latest novel Shee-Oak—a road trip to redemption set in outback Australia.

Shee-Oak is a modern adventure novel. Two women looking for love forge a fraught intergenerational bond as they travel across the drought-stricken Hay Plain to Adelaide. Fireworks abound as they attempt to overcome their addictions and take the rocky road to transformation and redemption.

Geraldine Star is a writer’s group enthusiast, and, as an educator, she continues to write, coach and mentor. She lives and works in seaside Sydney and draws on her experience of growing up on a farm near the Hay Plain in Wiradyuri country.

Julie Janson is a novelist, playwright, and award-winning poet.

Her newly released Indigenous crime novel, Madukka the River Serpent, introduces June, the Murri investigator tracking water theft, who exposes M**der on the river.

Julie self-published two books before her critically acclaimed historical novel Benevolence, set in the early white settlement of Sydney and the Hawkesbury area.

A prolific playwright, Julie has written ten plays, including two performed at Belvoir St Theatre.

Julie is co-recipient of the Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize, 2016 and winner of the Judith Wright Poetry Prize, 2019.

She is a regular guest at writers’ festivals and a proud Burruberongal woman of the Darug Aboriginal Nation.

This session is being held via Teams. The Teams platform can be accessed for free without a Microsoft subscription. Follow the link to join the event.

SHEE-OAK DESCRIPTION

A road trip to remember. Shee-Oak is a contemporary women’s adventure novel with the voices of two women echoing through the captivating beauty of the Australian outback.

A twist of fate throws Felicity (Flea) and Mia together. They flee their demons and travel across the Hay Plain, through Mildura to Broken Hill and on to a music festival in Adelaide. During the journey a veritable explosion or a tragic ending is imminent.

Flea is a long-suffering farmer in the middle of a drought. She’s going through a divorce and drinking too much. She welcomes into her home the younger IT whiz with a passion for archaeology and a self-centred moody streak. But Mia’s in free-fall, self-medicating prescription pills to escape psychological and physical pain. Mia’s dramas follow Flea everywhere.

Can Flea take a second chance on romance with her friend Randall from Mildura? Will love thrive? What are the trade-offs? Who will suffer and who will survive?

Challenges and decisions abound, but the power of love and redemption triumphs in this tale of courage and tenderness. Enter the world of Flea and Mia and be surprised.

*Title Shee-Oak – double ee represents two women, Oak represents strength, wisdom and healing.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Geraldine Star stories live and breathe the Australian bush. The majesty, intrigue, how people are drawn to work and live there, and the complexity of their relationships. She leaves no character untouched by the gnarled harshness of the environment, weaving unforgettable stories.

Shee-Oak is Geraldine’s first published novel after a career in the world of communications and writing. She is an educator working in schools, tutoring at University; and coaching and mentoring a culturally diverse group of Australian creatives through her business, Star Monde Communications. She is a graduate of Sydney University and has a Graduate Diploma in Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Geraldine is a writers’ group enthusiast. She is a member of two writers’ groups. She complied and contributed to Sharing Writing Skills, published by Ginninderra Press, about the satisfaction of collaborating with other writers.

She grew up in country NSW near the Hay Plain and now lives and works in seaside Sydney, Australia.

Over the past few years, Geraldine has visited the Broken Hill/Mildura area three times undertaking research and exploring the area she loves. Her last trip was from Broken Hill to Tibooburra, Cameron’s corner across the Stzelecki track to Innamincka.

Author - Geraldine Star

Julie Janson

Host or Publisher Broken Hill City Library