5 Minutes With...Kali Napier

Inspired by Kali Napier's own family history, THE SECRETS AT OCEAN'S EDGE is a haunting, memorable and moving tale of one family's search for belonging. Get to know Kali in the time it takes to make a cup of tea!

Before I was an author I was . . . an anthropologist in Bangladesh and Western Australia. A couple of children and a variety of roles in the private and public sectors later, I took on a job that indirectly led me to writing this book, as a researcher of Aboriginal family history.

I started writing because . . . when I was young, I lived overseas without television and read all my Enid Blyton series' and Trixie Beldens ten times over. Writing was an extension of my voracious reading. I stopped writing at seventeen and only started again twenty-one years later when I was made redundant.

The best part of writing The Secrets at Ocean’s Edge was . . . going on a roadtrip to Dongara as a fortieth birthday present to myself. I interviewed local historians and older residents about life in the 1930s, but found myself reconnecting with a part of my own family history as well as my love for the WA coast.

The Secrets at Ocean Edge’s was inspired by . . . two newspaper articles I uncovered about my great- grandfather during some family history research, a journal article about the Great Emu War, and my friend Kate who said there should be a love scene in a bath.

The book that changed my life was . . . Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham. I use it as a blueprint for living. As a teenager I craved a bohemian lifestyle, then travelled aimlessly, before being sidetracked by a range of bad decisions. Now I’m looking forward to a simple life of home and family by the sea.