5 Minutes With ... Pamela Hart

Before I was an author I . . .

was a scriptwriter of children’s television with the ABC. And also a consultant in organisational communications, with a speciality in managing people who come forward to report corruption and misconduct (I’ve done a lot of work with police services!)

A Letter from Italy was inspired by . . .

Louise Mack, Captain Von Trapp and the Royal Australian Navy! Mack was the first woman war correspondent – an Australian woman who reported from behind enemy lines on Germany’s invasion of Belgium in 1914, and later became editor of the Women’s Pages of The Sydney Morning Herald. Von Trapp – yes, the Sound of Music guy – was a submarine commander for the Austrians in the Adriatic Sea. The Allied navies, including Australia, were trying to stop his and other subs from getting through to the Mediterranean. It’s a part of Australian military history everyone has forgotten.

Describe A Letter from Italy in one sentence:

in WWI Italy, Australian journalist Rebecca Quinn fights prejudice to report on the naval battles of the Adriatic, worries about her missing husband, and is far too attracted to her new photographer, Italian-American Sandro Panucci.

My favourite place to write is . . .

sitting cross-legged in an armchair in my lounge room!

My favourite place to curl up with a book is . . .

well, not curl up . . . but in the bath is the most relaxing place to read!