As the author of best-selling English HSC text books, Roslyn McFarland's work has been read by thousands of students.
But the Winmalee resident will seek a completely new readership this month when she releases her debut novel, All the Lives We've Lived.
The retired English teacher has drawn on her childhood in the Salt Pan Creek area of Sydney to craft a novel that blends fictional and historical characters and events. Its protagonist is a baby-boomer living at Wentworth Falls who had a teenage relationship with an indigenous boy - a starting point partly inspired by an indigenous student at Ms McFarland's own post-war high school in Sydney's suburbs.
"I used that as a springboard for thinking about the character," she said. "How would my parents have coped if I had gone out with an indigenous boy? How would most parents have coped at that time?"
While she co-authored and edited a series of educational works in her career as an English teacher, Ms McFarland only turned to writing fiction when she retired.
She published a novella as part of a masters degree in creative writing at the University of Technology Sydney but felt she had more to say.
"I suppose every English teacher, or journalist, thinks they've got a novel in them," she said.
All the Lives We've Lived took about five years to reach the point where it will soon arrive on bookshelves.
"I put away the first draft because I was taught at UTS to marinate the work and then look at it six months later with fresh eyes," said Ms McFarland. "When I looked at it six months later I thought it was a complete turkey... There were pieces in it that I loved but I wrestled with it."
The creative breakthrough came when she decided to tell the overarching narrative through a series of short stories.
It is a decision that has drawn praise from reviewers. "Each story is a jewel set perfectly into the whole where the interior worlds of the characters are rendered in engaging and powerful details," wrote Jo Gardiner, author of The Concerto Inn.
One of Ms McFarland's former students, SBS journalist Patrick Abboud, will officially launch All the Lives We've Lived at Gleebooks in Glebe on October 18.
But the author admits to feeling more anxious about an event at Springwood Library on October 26 when she will share her labour of love with members of her own community.
This is partly derived from a genuine self-effacement.
"I'm of that generation of women, even though I call myself a feminist, who were told to not brag because it was unseemly. You don't push yourself forward," she said.
It's also partly due to the subject matter of the novel.
"The book could come with a warning," she said. "There's strong language. There's violence. There's sex - quite a lot of it in fact. But it was the 1960s and 1970s I was writing about! People might assume 'well, you had a rich life'. No, I have a rich imagination," she said.
Roslyn McFarland will be "in conversation" with The Turning Page Bookshop on Saturday, October 26 at Springwood Library at 2pm. Afternoon tea is included in the free event. Bookings are essential at any library branch or online at library.bmcc.nsw.gov.au.
