By Marcus Uhe
Pearcedale author Sarah Bacaller is drawing on inspiration from history to stagger the release of her new novel ‘She, Tenacity’.
While the book will be available to purchase as an e-book or hard copy from Friday 1 April, readers can immerse themselves in the experience of reading the story as a community through twice-weekly free email instalments, beginning the same date.
“Last year I was reading a lot of George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and her and Charles Dickens released a lot of their novels as serials in magazines and journals,” Ms Bacaller explained.
“A colleague and writing mentor of mine kept up a weekly subscription sending philosophical reflections and recently retired, and I was reflecting on the process.
“It becomes a rhythm of your life and builds an ongoing connection and relationship between reader and writer.
“It’s a nice way of being present in someone’s life.”
Her new novel follows the ups and downs of the life of the main character, Gab, navigating the complexities of early adulthood in rural Victoria while also shouldering the responsibilities of caring for her mother and brother.
“It highlights challenges of what young people have to decide when they get to that age.
“A lot of times there are barriers that may not be visible to people on the outside.
“People often don’t see how much thought goes into making those decisions.”
An academic by trade, Ms Bacaller had ambitions to be a writer ever since she was seven-years-old growing-up in Noble Park and Frankston, but turned her focus to other career paths as she got older, with doubts over whether it was a practical occupation.
She found a path to writing having continued to do develop her talents through her academic research and penning publications.
‘She, Tenacity’ is her second novel after publishing ‘The Fault Lines Founding Liberty’ in 2020.
On-top of writing her own stories, she has narrated a variety of audiobooks, which she sees becoming a crucial part of the future of story-telling.
“I love normal books and having one in my hand because I like to interact with it, but I’m not a traditionalist. I’ll take stories in any way they come.
“The value with audiobooks is you often use them in contexts where you couldn’t be reading anyway, so it’s like getting some bonus reading.
“You can invest time into it when you might not normally have any, and absorb it in a different experience.
50% of proceeds from E-book and printed sales of the book will go towards The Babes Project, a charity organisation which supports at–risk and vulnerable women experiencing the Perinatal period through providing support, knowledge and understanding.
Ms Bacaller is a former volunteer for the Project and a mother of two children herself, who understands how challenging parenthood can be.
“I want to support their work and feel frustrated that I can’t support them more,” she said.
“Their approach just seemed to be a really constructive way to respond to difficult social issues and they recognise the hardships that a lot of women face.
“Instead of looking down on them, they ask, ‘What can we do? How can we help? What do we have to offer?’”
Founder of the The Babes Project and Chief Executive, Helen Parker OAM, said that she was thrilled that Ms Bacaller has chosen to use her platform to support the charity.
“She’s remarkable,” Ms Parker said. “She’s always been very passionate and I love that people can use their own skills and gifts to raise awareness about an issue that touches so many lives.
“So many of us are really ignorant about the complexities of the perinatal period and the early days of parenthood. Raising awareness of the issue in a beautiful way like this is really powerful.”
She said the majority of funding will go towards their Frankston facility.
“At the moment we are full, and every dollar contributed means we can look at increasing capacity.
“Pearcedale and down towards Hastings and Bittern, we have quite a lot of women who are isolated. We service the whole Peninsula and there’s a nice synergy there.”
The book will be available to pre-order from Monday 7 March, or to sign-up for the installments head to www.sarahbacaller.com
To learn more about The Babes Project head to thebabesproject.com.au/
