Peter Clarke

I have lived in Australia most of my life. I was lucky enough at one stage to work for a multi national computer company where I enjoyed postings to Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and the US. Wonderful countries and wonderful people.

Talking about luck, I have three children, one of whom is living outside London with her husband and three children. Miss her lots of course, especially in these days of no travel. The other two live in Australia and are close enough for frequent contact.

My reading tastes are broad and my bookshelves look like they belong to lots of people, not just one. I love stories of Australian bush and outback, but also enjoy Wilbur Smith, Dean Koontz, Tom Clancy and Stephen King. These days, Lee Child is also there. I am also learning Italian, so there are many Italian novels as well.

The idea of writing about a family history came from a cousin who said he thought the mystery disappearance of my great grandfather William was worthy of a novel.

We knew very little about William. I suppose the fact that he had disappeared meant the family were either not interested, or perhaps even embarrassed. There was a story that he'd gone to Sydney to sell some horses, and his personal effects arrived back on the train without him.

I went to Belfast and spent two weeks in the Public Records Office. I found details of William's parents, grand parents and siblings, but nothing on him. Oddly enough, the fact that I could find nothing on him made him more interesting.

The idea of writing his story grew legs and I started with one novel and that became three. There's an idea of a fourth, about William's parents, but only time will tell if it becomes a reality.

The three novels span the time of his leaving home and sailing to Australia on the Lady Grace, travelling in Victoria and being involved in the Eureka Stockade, and then moving to New South Wales and more searching for gold.

A reviewer recently wrote in relation to the first book, An Ocean Away.

"Peter Clarke brilliantly combines two conflicts—man versus man and man versus nature. Yet, it has a simple plot line about a young man hoping to find better fortune elsewhere, but the unpredictability of his fate during the voyage induces your curiosity. Even before William boards the ship, there are already intense scenes that pit William against his immediate vicinity and also that of his family. This novel is about the appalling yet hopeful experience of finding your luck in a big, scary world, and if this is what you like to read, An Ocean Away is the book for you."

Most of the story is fiction, but we do know he was married in Orange, NSW, Australia in 1864. We know about his family, his relatives and some of the people with whom he was involved. We also know he disappeared around 1902. But not much else.

The places are all real and the historical events as accurate as I can make them.

Some of what you read is personal experience. I have sailed, dug for gold, lived and camped out in the bush, swum in Australian rivers, been to many of the places I write about, and been broke. Most of those things are fun.

I hope you enjoy reading the three books and that they convey what it was like to live at that time in Australia. It was a hard life, and many people didn't survive it to old age. The gold fields were terribly hot in the summer, bitterly cold in the winter, and the diggers endured all that nature could throw at them. In spite of that, hope for a fabulous find drove them on, often relentless in their pursuit of riches.

Incidentally, I read a wonderful book while researching Book 2 in the William Stewart Saga series. The book is called "The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka – Clare Wright". If you are interested in the Eureka Stockade, it's a wonderful insight and is available on Amazon.