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Wangaratta Chronicle April 15 2024

BESTSELLING authors Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion will roll into Wangaratta this Thursday as part of their Great Australian Bookshop Tour.

The husband and wife duo have been on the road for more than two weeks already visiting bookshops
across the nation to promote the new novel they’ve written together, ‘The Glass House’, and the tour is set to continue through to July.

“It will be nice to visit Wangaratta on our way home (to Melbourne) – we are not home very long before we head to Tasmania, so we’re looking forward to it,” Anne said.

Anne and Graeme’s author talk on Thursday evening from 6.30pm at Where is My Coffee in Murphy Street, organised by Edgars Books and News, will also serve as a fundraiser for local mental health initiative Project 365.

All profits from book sales and donations made on the night will go to the local group of musicians, who
have staged performances over the last two years to raise awareness of mental health with the message ‘it’s okay to not be okay’.

“We’ve read up a bit about the group and their use of music to help people talk about mental health; music for many people is a great way of tapping into emotions,” Anne said. “Our royalties from sales
at events are going to mental health charities, a different one in each state, and it’s great to be able to support a local group with this one.”

The cause fits perfectly with the themes of the book, which centres on psychiatry registrar Dr Hannah Wright. A country girl with a “chaotic history”, Hannah thought she had seen it all in the emergency room, until she begins work in the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital. She must learn on the job in a strained medical system, as she and her fellow trainees deal with the common and the bizarre, the  hilarious and the tragic, the treatable and the confronting.

Every day brings new patients: Chloe, who has a lifethreatening eating disorder; Sian, suffering  postpartum psychosis and fighting to keep her baby; and Xavier, the MP whose suicide attempt has an explosive story behind it. All the while, Hannah is trying to figure out herself.

The story draws on Anne’s experience as a psychiatrist, while Graeme said he was able to offer a lay person’s take on the various character’s stories, which are structured “like a TV series” in the novel.

“It’s a structure people are familiar with from series like ‘House’ or ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, looking through the eyes of the health professionals and following their story arcs, while delving into the ‘patient of the week’ and the three patients we follow throughout the book,” Anne said.

Graeme, who brought attention and awareness to autism through his wellknown series which began with ‘The Rosie Project’, added: “Every one of us has a mental health story – whether it involves us, a family member or someone else we know, and what Anne brings is an understanding of what’s actually going on. People who have read this book say it has helped with their understanding of what these people are experiencing. My aim is to give people a gripping book they enjoy, where any learning is painless.”

The couple, who have previously written two books together – ‘Two Steps Forward’ and ‘Two Steps  Onward’ – and have also found success individually with their writing, plan for ‘The Glass House’ to be the first in a series, with each instalment focusing on a different medical specialty.

“We’re both extroverts, so it’s enjoyable to work together, and I think it helps enormously to have that sounding board – whether  we’re working in the same room or working from different rooms and yelling out to each other,” Anne said.

Thursday’s session will explore this writing process, and the content of ‘The Glass House’. The event is free, but tickets are required, and can be obtained via the link on the Edgars Books and News Facebook
page. There is an option for food available on the night when ordering tickets.