“Beautifully written – a triumph”
“In Searching for Charlotte, Murrell and Forsyth bring Charlotte’s voice to life through her journals, artwork and books …sharing the story of this impressive woman who, like them, is strong, intrepid and clever.”
“Charlotte’s story has it all – undying love, mystery, adventure, violence, grief but above all incredible triumph. But this is also a story about two of our most gifted writers who had the courage to share their own lives with us – even if it was at times painful…”
“Exquisite”
Searching for Charlotte
Writing is in their blood
180 years ago, Australia’s first children’s book was published by an anonymous writer known only as ‘a lady long resident in New South Wales’.
The identity of the author was one of Australia’s most puzzling literary mysteries until 1981, when she was finally given a name: Charlotte Waring Atkinson.
Today, her great-great-great-great-granddaughters Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell are also celebrated authors. They grew up on stories about Charlotte’s life of love, grief and violence—about her struggle to assert an independent spirit. A bestselling author, she was an early Australian artist and a pioneer in the fight for women’s legal rights, waging a bitter court battle for the right to raise her own children.
In Searching for Charlotte, Kate and Belinda embark on a voyage of discovery that investigates family history, writing, motherhood, what changes and what stays the same.
It is a journey that will transform everything they thought they knew about their family …
Searching for Charlotte – An extraordinary Journey (Blog Post for NLA)
People often used to ask me – have you ever thought about writing a book with your sister, Kate? I always used to laugh – and say, ‘That would never work!’ Yet that’s exactly what we’ve done, and it was an absolute joy.
Writing Searching for Charlotte with my sister, has been an extraordinary voyage of discovery. Our book is inspired by the fascinating life of our great-great-great-great grandmother Charlotte Waring Atkinson, who 180 years ago, wrote the first children’s book published in Australia in 1841. It is inspired by her story of love, grief and violence – and her struggle to assert an independent spirit.
Charlotte was not only a bestselling author, she was an early Australian artist and a pioneer in the fight for women’s legal rights, waging a bitter court battle for the right to raise her own children. The story of her life is woven together with our own anecdotes and experiences, untangling the mysteries of the past.
Our journey really began when we were children and our grandparents would take us on excursions to the beautiful Southern Highlands, to show us the golden sandstone house, called Oldbury, which had been built by our great-great-great-great grandparents in 1828. As we bumped along the rough, dirt track, Nonnie and Papa would tell us romantic stories of our ancestors – their enthralling adventures, sorrows, and triumphs.
Perhaps it was these early tales of our writing ancestors, that inspired both of us, and our brother Nick Humphrey, to become authors ourselves. Writing is definitely in our blood! We come from a long line of poets, novelists, journalists, and essayists going back for many generations. Kate and I started writing as children, and now have published over 80 books.
So many people had suggested over the years, that we simply must write a book about Charlotte. We decided that the 180-year anniversary of the publication of A Mother’s Offering would be the perfect opportunity to fulfill this dream.
It was a daunting task. The research took many, many months of wrong turnings, amazing discoveries and diligent fact checking. We spent days trawling the archives of the NLA and the Mitchell Library; interviewing historians and genealogists; reading old newspapers and court depositions; to four-wheel driving through rivers and over rough mountain tracks, to visit key settings. It was more than two years of hard work.
It was sometimes stressful, when Kate and I would struggle with how we should tell the story, what to put in and what to leave out, and who should cover what parts. Fortunately, Kate and I have similar approaches and backgrounds, although quite distinct voices. We both worked as journalists, love writing historical fiction, and have collaborated with other creators on different books. Most importantly, we get on very well, so we were able to work through our differences of opinion, without getting a sisterly divorce.
For me, the most challenging part was writing memoir. It is so much easier to write about other people, than to reveal your own innermost thoughts and feelings. My early attempts at memoir seemed stilted and unnatural.
The breakthrough was when we travelled to England, with our daughters Emily and Ella. We enrolled at London University to study Writing the Memoir, with respected English journalist Jane Shilling, to learn more about writing narrative non-fiction. Jane encouraged us to use our historical fiction skills to bring Charlotte’s world alive and tell her enthralling story, while using our journalistic background to discover the truth, through rigorous research and fact checking. She suggested hand-writing our experiences in a journal, to help us find our own authentic voices.
While in England, we visited the places where Charlotte had lived and worked, in her early life before she left for Australia in 1826. We explored the busy laneways of Marylebone and Bloomsbury; searched daisy sprinkled graveyards; visited grand estates and ancient villages; met with local historians; and hiked the stunning Kentish downs. We saw where Charlotte said goodbye to her family forever, and where she met the love of her life.
Walking in Charlotte’s footsteps was a remarkable experience, which truly brought her alive. It was as though Charlotte was smiling down on us, showing us the way.