After emerging from COVID-19 lockdowns and a subsequent breast cancer diagnosis, Chrissie Bellbrae decided it was time to focus on her writing.
Chrissie said releasing a book was something she had always wanted to do, “but life got in the way”.
“I had been doing workshops and working on my writing, submitting it to competitions, and I got close with a couple of manuscripts,” she said.
Confident the novel she’d been working on was in a good place, Chrissie decided to self-publish ‘The Florentine Quilt’, which was released in January. Now, the Surf Coast-based author is embarking on a promotional return-trip to Sydney to engage with readers,
and will be at the Wangaratta Library this Thursday, 20 November from 2pm.
Her trip has been timed to coincide with a book launch at the 30th anniversary of the Airing of the Quilts in Braidwood on 22 and 23 November, an event that honours the age-old practice of airing quilts after winter – heralding the true coming of spring.
The event fits perfectly with the subject matter of Chrissie’s debut novel, a multi-timeline narrative centred on three women connected in time to a medieval quilt and an ancient tale of forbidden love.
There’s Australian textile conservator Theodora Harris, who is grieving her grandmother’s death when offered an internship to restore a medieval quilt depicting a legend steeped in Celtic folklore. While the hero, Tristan, is lauded in the design, the story of his true love, Isolde, is missing – and Theodora’s past is also incomplete. Her powerful connection to the quilt brings family secrets to the surface, and as each scene is restored, her attraction to the enigmatic Tristan becomes more difficult to deny, the threads of long-lost
love refusing to let her go.
Chrissie drew inspiration from her family’s ancestry for the next thread – the story of gifted healer Amelia Treloar, who sails from the wild Cornish coast to join her husband in the Australian mining town of Walhalla; Chrissie’s grandmother’s family made that same trip.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of women who travel to another place to start a new life,” the author said.
The third thread of the story’s characters is Florence Trevelyan, who in 1875 is exiled from Queen Victoria’s court for following her heart, and finds solace in her garden as she embraces a new life. Each woman pays the price for love, and for her differences, and the novel suggests the missing scene from the Florentine quilt may be the key to unlocking more than one woman’s forgotten story.
“I’m very happy with the way the story’s turned out,” Chrissie said. “A lot went into it, and I really hope people enjoy it.”
And as she continues to focus on her passion for writing, Chrissie is preparing not only to promote her first novel, but to release her next historical fiction release, ‘The Romanoff Secret’. Also a multi-narrative story, this book is set in both pre-revolutionary Russia and amid the fashion scene of 1980s Melbourne.
Chrissie has also been picked up by a publisher for a story inspired by her breast cancer journey and set in 1930s Melbourne.
For a chance to hear more about her writing journey and plans, and about ‘The Florentine Quilt’, visit the Wangaratta Library on Thursday, 20 November from 2pm, where Chrissie will be in conversation with local author Jodi Gibson.
To book for this free event, visit https://events.humanitix.com/chrissie-bellbrae-event
