After 17 years of “writing, editing, putting down then picking up”, Mount Eliza author Diane Deeming has at last completed her debut novel. All Her Own is a work of fiction inspired by her mother and is based on stories and memories from her younger years. Diane describes it as “a fresh take on the tradition of the family saga, spanning three decades and traversing three countries”.
One of the settings is Glasgow, where Diane grew up in poverty in a bleak and densely populated part of the city before moving to Melbourne in 1966. She spent 28 years working for Ansett Airlines in sales and marketing and later as promotions manager before a 16-year stint at The Alfred hospital working in the fundraising department.
Her role at Ansett included 10 years of fortnightly morning television segments talking travel in Melbourne and regional areas. It was also while she was with Ansett that she met Fiona McIntosh, and they became friends. Both mothers with young children, they discovered they shared a passion for writing and were both working on books. Fiona has since gone on to earn worldwide recognition as a best-selling author with more than 40 titles to her name.
As well as writing, Diane has a love of theatre, with many years of acting in plays and ‘leading lady’ roles in amateur musical theatre. She met her husband, Ron, in 2006 at a music venue where he was playing guitar and she was singing with another band. They played together for many years as a duo. In 2017, Diane and Ron eloped to Queenscliff and were married on a beautiful day high on a clifftop to Van Morrison’s classic Bright Side of the Road.
All Her Own tells the story of Mary Bray, a young English woman deeply in love with her husband, Charlie. Having survived the horrors of World War II, their lives are enriched by the birth of a daughter. But when Charlie is on consignment, Mary is lonely and succumbs to the wiles of the egotistical and abusive Archie. Charlie discovers the deceit and, broken-hearted and unforgiving, leaves behind all that he cherishes. Guilty and remorseful, Mary is inconsolable.
It is now 1950: Mary is pregnant with Archie’s child and has no other option than to move to Glasgow with him. There she lives in a one-room, rat-infested, condemned tenement slum with a violent and abusive man who has no potential or ambition. Although desolate and vulnerable, Mary’s struggles have strengthened her resolve over the years. She is no longer that downtrodden woman; she is stoic, refusing to be broken, and must forge a future for her children. She has secretly been harbouring a plan to leave Glasgow, a plan that will change their lives for ever, and it’s now time to reveal all to her family. Against all odds, Mary Bray succeeds with an outcome she could never have imagined.
All Her Own is available from Amazon as both an ebook and paperback, and can be ordered from all major bookshops.
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