Everybody has a book in them, or so the saying goes. For Kate Painter - wife, mother, freelance editor and aspiring writer - it's just a matter of finding a spare five minutes, a little peace and quiet... and something to write about.
When her cousin Angie announces she has a room to let, Kate's spur of the moment decision to move temporarily out of the family home and in with Angie takes everyone, not least her husband and teenage children, by complete surprise. Yet Kate's sure that in this room of her own, she'll finally be able to write the novel she's always wanted to.
But it doesn't happen so easily. Writer's block, dirty laundry and emergency babysitting duties all conspire against her. Amid the endless distractions, Kate is drawn into exploring the story of her family: her less than normal childhood with Angie on the family farm, her father's recent death, and the mystery behind Angie's enigmatic, absent mother.
As the months pass, Kate writes her novel. And while it will never be the bestseller she had envisioned, it's the story Kate weaves for herself and her family that is the ultimate triumph.
Ilsa Evans lives in a partially renovated house in the Dandenongs, east of Melbourne. She shares her home with her three children, two dogs, several fish, a multitude of sea-monkeys and a psychotic cat. She is the author of Spin Cycle, Drip Dry, Odd Socks, Each Way Bet and Broken.
