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 Louise
Limerick, author of 'Dying for Cake', always cherished
the notion of being a writer; so much so that when she
and her husband visited Canada seven years ago, she refused
to leave without visiting Prince Edward Island, home to
another ambitious writer, Anne of Green Gables, a fictional
hero from Louise's teen years.
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Although
Louise wrote stories and poetry all through her growing
years she decided to gain some experience in life before
embarking on a serious writing career. After studying
Arts at the University of Queensland and a brief career
as a teacher, she became a mother. Now, with three children
and a very busy life, Louise has achieved her dream of
writing. One day a week her husband minds the children
for five hours. During this time she writes.
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Louise
likes to explore the problems and challenges of life when
she writes, layering them into the text. While her debut
novel 'Dying for Cake' has been marketed as a light read,
it deals with quite complex issues about motherhood. She
explores the often unforseen problems that ambush young
mothers: post-natal depression, gastric reflux and enormous
personal sacrifices. The novel confronts head-on the dilemma
women face when nurturing their children, themselves and
their dreams. Louise believes that for a mother, resolving
the conflict between guilt and love is always going to
be a compromise.
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The
idea of a baby disappearing is not the reason she wrote
the book, but merely a plot device by which she could
entertainingly explore her ideas on motherhood and the
conflicts that exist within a mother's heart. She had
particular concerns with the automatic assumption that
if a baby is missing, the mother is guilty of something.
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"People
tend to crucify women without understanding what they
are going through," she says. "Society places huge expectations
on women as mothers, assuming that they will martyr themselves
and have no expectations for themselves in their lives."
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Sitting
on her verandah quietly sipping tea Louise Limerick's
face lights up when she speaks of either her family or
her work. She is a woman who seems content with her life
as mother and writer. "Self-realisation for women is very
important," says Louise. "You can't really love your children
if you don't know who you are." |
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