Rachael Treasure is one of Australia's most popular authors of women's fiction, credited with sparking a whole new sub-genre of rural fiction with her groundbreaking romance, Jillaroo, a book that opened the flood gates for dozens more authors and readers of rural romance and country fiction to follow.
In her latest book, White Horses, nearly 20 years later, Rachael continues to smash conventions, blending her vision for a vital and thriving Australian agricultural sector with a young woman's mystical and romantic quest for identity.
Hi there, I'm your host, Jenny Wheeler, and in today's binge reading episode Rachael talks about dealing with life's curve balls – and she's had a few, the boom in Australian women's fiction, and why she sees her role of mother as more important than any of the other titles like ‘author’ and ‘farmer’ that she wears with pride.
Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:
Why social context has always been importantWhy 'mother' is her most important roleLoving mother nature - philosophy and practiceThe dark days that prompted a lyrical memoirOn cracking the US marketRestoring a 'brutalized' 100 acres to full health
Where to find Rachael Treasure:
Website: http://www.rachaeltreasure.com/
Facebook: @rach.treasure
Twitter: @rachaeltreasure
What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.
Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Rachael. Hello there, Rachael, and welcome to the show. It's wonderful that you could be here.
Rachael Treasure: Brilliant to be with you also Jenny. Thank you for having me.
Rachael Treasure - Australian author
Jenny Wheeler: You are in Tasmania and I’m in New Zealand. We’ll get that clear for the people listening around the world. We've got listeners in Australia and the States, so it's good to know.
Rachael Treasure: That's brilliant. We say we're 'over the ditch' from you, for those of you who live internationally. We are just over the ditch from New Zealand.
Jenny Wheeler: That's right. You have had the kudos of having kick-started a whole new sub-genre in fiction, and not many authors can say something like this.
That was Australian rural romance with your first novel, Jillaroo, back in 2002. Many of the women authors I've spoken to over the last 18 months or so all credit you with starting the boom that there’s been in women's fiction.
It’s been nearly 20 years now, and you've come a long way since then. The work you're doing now has gone a long way on past Jillaroo, but tell us about that first iconic book. How did you come to crack that?
Rachael Treasure: That goes back to childhood in the sense that my grandmother was a farmer, but she was also a writer. She had radio plays published, I think by the BBC. She wrote children's books, so when I was growing up, I would see her clunking away on a typewriter.
Her name was Joan Wise. Books and indigenous story were a big part of her life, and she imparted that to me back before that was really a thing, so I had this connection between land and writing and the ancient wisdom that comes with indigenous dream stories. Jillaroo was a step along from that.
Introducing Rachael Treasure
I went to an agricultural college and I'd been raised in Tasmania where the farming system was all integrated, so the bees played a part with the orchards, and the orchards played a part with feeding the pigs, and the pigs played a part with the milk coming from the dairy, and the wool.
My uncle and auntie would spin wool by hand. When I went to what we call the mainland in Australia, and I started seeing corporate, commercial, industrial agriculture on a massive scale, it would sit so uncomfortably with me, so when I went to study both agriculture and journalism, I knew I had to tell the feminine story of contemporary rural women.
Jillaroo - the romance that birthed a sub genre...
