The Aphorism Club follows a brilliant young Australian woman who, rejected by her family because of her birthmark, finds strength among artists and outsiders as she fights to become a writer and claim authority over her future. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I have always been inspired by the stories of women in the past, and in my own past who have struggled against injustice, rejection, suppressive social norms to become their own person. To find and use the gifts they have to make a life initially denied them. This is not just a thing of the past as young people are swamped by social perceptions of beauty and personal worth based on how they look, or what they wear or how much money they have. I want readers to have  a role model who embodies the fact that there is nothing more you need than to be at home in your own skin, to value your talents and build the community you want to be a part of.

Why did you choose the aphorism “Look up and find a light, or build a fire yourself” as a guiding principle for Ruby’s journey?

This is perhaps my own guiding principle. Optimism, self-reliance, problem solving and self-belief are superpowers, much under-valued superpowers, but ones, if mastered allows a life to be built. Ruby is smart, given wise counsel and encouraged to take control of her destiny and shed any thought of being a victim of circumstance. She is led to believe that seeing yourself as a victim is stultifying, seeing yourself as a survivor is empowering.

The novel contrasts “the family you got” with “the family you made.” What did you want Ruby’s chosen communities to reveal about the meaning of family?​

Love comes in all forms and at the heart of ‘family’ is respect. Respect for all one is, and what one wants to be. A family is a cheer-squad, a protective cordon that is prepared to kick you in the pants if you need it. The family Ruby has made in the Aphorism Club reveals that connection is not about what makes us the same but how we appreciate and value the uniqueness of individuals.

How did you balance Ruby’s personal coming-of-age story with the novel’s exploration of suffrage, class, sexuality, reproductive autonomy, war, and labor conditions?​

Setting the novel in the 1920s meant the key social changes had to be recognised. Ruby’s awakening to injustice in her community gave voice to her writing. In essence, she recognised that she could have had a life of comfort given her family’s wealth and position, but she really only grows out of naivety and perhaps a little self-pity when she comes to understand that life for women, particularly those in the lower socio-economic classes, is bereft of opportunity, potentially violent and utterly miserable. And it is key to women today understanding how our female ancestors fought for the life we now live. While we have a way to go, the privileges of the few in the early 20^th century are now for all.

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