About Pene

A little bit about me.

My story

I spent my first 30 something years in England. Growing up, I lived in several different, mostly rural, areas of Britain; the longest my family stayed in one area was 7 years, the average less than 3 years, then I left home, lived in London and ended up in Oxford; working in the town, not the University.

I met an Australian who, although born in the UK, had lived in Melbourne since his early twenties. I migrated to Australia in 1986 and we lived for over a year in Melbourne. Living in London had taught me that I am not a big city girl and life in Melbourne didn’t change my mind. So when my husband expressed a desire to live in Tasmania I fully agreed, providing we lived in Hobart, the State’s capital city.

We have now lived for over 30 years in the same house on Hobart’s Eastern Shore with my husband, dog, cat, three hens and no regrets. I have a very productive urban food garden, am an enthusiastic preserver of fruits and vegetables, sell surplus preserves at a monthly local market and find baking very calming and emotionally satisfying.

I have always made up stories in my head about incidents, people I have observed, but never committed them to paper; until during a period of unemployment in 2001 I began a story that eventually became Reason To Believe, but that is a tale for another time.

I currently find myself writing stories featuring women who find themselves in adverse circumstances, not necessarily of their own making, but discover an inner strength to endure, survive and ultimately triumph.

I like books that are part of a series, set within a defined space and populated by a mix of familiar and new characters. It occurred to me that I should develop a series of books, beginning with Reason to Believe, set in the fictional coastal town of St Agnes. Reason to Believe will be available on Amazon in a few months time, I am currently writing Reason to Trust and have the working title of Reason for Joy in my head waiting to be written.

But I am starting this adventure with the first novel I completed, Proud Hearts and Strong Wills so please download it with my compliments.

Pene's Timeline

During a period of unemployment I began writing Reason To Believe. Then a new job got in the way so I abandoned my embryo novel leaving my heroine bruised and battered in a cellar

A trip to the UK sparked the inspiration behind Proud Hearts and Strong Wills, which I worked on off and on until the first draft was finished in 2015

Edited and reformatted a text book written by my mother, Brenda Thornton, entitled Making Words Work in Academic Writing

I finished the third draft of Proud Hearts and Strong Wills and took the first tentative step of releasing the book into the world. Later that year, in response to an invitation for unpublished works by Tasmanian authors to be part of an art installation called The Peoples Library, I submitted a sample of Reason To Believe. It was accepted and my heroine was finally released form the cellar

Reason to Believe was finished, proof read and submitted for publication in April. The Peoples Library was launched in September.

Began a new work entitled Strength Of Ten which is and will remain unfinished

Started Reason To Trust, a sequel to Reason To Believe.

I realised that Reason To Believe should be the first book in the Wheel Of Life series. Reason to Trust is Book II in the series and Book III is lurking at the back of my mind.

Launched my Website!!! Which would have been impossible without the assistance of the Wonderful Nick, Graphic & Front -End Web Designer. Thank you for your help in launching me on my next life adventure.