Book Club May: Something to Talk About by Rachael Johns

Australian author Rachael Johns is a country girl at heart and sometimes likes to novelise her inspirational friends. Here’s how you can win a copy of her new book.

Before pursuing a career as an author, Rachael Johns worked in a small-town library in Western Australia. Every time she picked up a book she didn’t like to judge the cover because she was scared to miss out on a good story.

Like books, Rachael loves discovering the tale behind the smiles of family, friends and even strangers.

Australian author Rachael Johns is a country girl at heart and sometimes likes to novelise her inspirational friends. Picture: Supplied

The life story of her library boss and friend Lorreen is the inspiration behind the Perth-based author’s 25th novel, Something to Talk About.

“Lorreen is a strong, gutsy and independent heroine,” Rachael, 40, says.

“She lost her arm to cancer at 19 way before I knew her, and I was always in awe of how she could do more with only one fully functional arm than most people could do with two.

“She knits, she quilts, covers books with contact, rides a motorbike and has even been a volunteer ambulance officer.”

In the novel, Lorreen is transformed into fictional local farmer and one-armed heroine, Tabitha Cooper-Jones.

She is a dairy farmer and business owner adored by the local community but has a tragic past, losing not only her mum and her arm but also her dream of a music career.

Having given up on relationships, she’s decided to have a baby on her own through donor sperm and is pregnant when the book begins.

“I really wanted Tabitha to be like my friend – a really optimistic person who doesn’t let her disability get in the way of living a full life,” the author says.

“Writing about an amputee was a challenge as it’s not something I have any personal experience with, but Lorreen was so generous in sharing her story and her day-to-day life that she made it a lot easier.

“She also provided a sensitivity read, making sure I had portrayed Tabitha in a realistic and empathetic way.”

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“I really wanted Tabitha to be like my friend,” says author Rachael Johns.

Rachael’s ninth rural romance novel is set in a small dairy farming community of (fictional) Walsh and nearby ghost town Rose Hill.

Within the first few pages readers meet hero Ferg McWilliams. He is a city teacher who comes to work in the rural community. He’s suffered his own betrayal and just wants to lie low and wallow.

But he finds it impossible to stay off the radar when he starts coaching the kids’ cricket team and has a legion of single female supporters.

The only woman who doesn’t seem to have her sights set on Ferg is Tabitha.

Despite a disastrous first meeting and a visit from a past love, circumstances keep throwing them together.

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Rachael’s ninth rural romance novel is set in a small dairy farming community of (fictional) Walsh and nearby ghost town Rose Hill.

Rachael says the story of how Tabitha and Ferg met is vaguely similar to how she met her husband Craig in 2001.

“It might have been love at first sight for him but not for me,” the now mother-of-three laughs.

“I thought he was a little bit crazy and weird, and still do.

“We met when we were both working at Coles, he was assistant manager and I was front end supervisor on Thursday nights and Saturdays.

“It wasn’t until we both attended a 21st party and got talking that I discovered we shared a love of books and writing.

“He asked me out that night, I said yes, and the rest as they say is history.”

The penchant for a rural romance was sparked by Rachael’s time living in Kojonup, Western Australia in 2004.

The life story of her library boss and friend Lorreen is the inspiration behind the Perth-based author’s 25th novel, Something to Talk About. Picture: Supplied

Rachael says the first few months, in the middle of nowhere with her husband, baby and no family support, was hard. But six years later she left the town as a very different woman.

“Kojonup converted me from a city girl to a country girl at heart,” she says.

“Now the words of rural romance make me smile.

“The romance genre offers a positive message in an often depressing world.

“Add rural into the mix and you have all the added layers of conflicts that come with small town life, particularly the fact everyone knows everyone else’s businesses.”

Rachael says she has come a long way since her first published manuscript, Jiltedin 2012.

“It has been a journey and there is no stopping me now,” she says.

“I hope now if people decide to try one of my books, about pretty normal people creating pretty amazing happy ever afters, they enjoy them and pine a little when it ends.”