Erin Hortle grew up at Clifton Beach in southern Tasmania, which may explain her affinity for the ocean. Erin’s debut novel, The Octopus and I, is utterly steeped in the feel, the sights and the sounds of the sea, and it is peopled by the creatures, human or animal, that live in or by the sea. In this case they live in the small coastal community of Eaglehawk Neck, the narrow strip of land that divides the Forestier and Tasman Peninsulas.      In this episode, podcast host Annie Warburton talks to Erin about her novel’s central themes of femininity, motherhood, maternal sacrifice, sex, love and death — the whole shebang.