Susannah Begbie grew up in Eden Monaro, practises as a rural doctor, and has written a prize-winning debut novel, The Deed, set in the Riverina. Australian Rural & Regional News contributor, Aedeen Cremin, strongly recommends The Deed, which she concludes is “ultimately a morality tale – a highly enjoyable one” and was able to quiz Susannah about her work, her characters and some plot choices.
Read Aedeen Cremin’s review of The Deed.
ARR.News: You are a medical doctor, with a busy GP practice. Many famous writers were also doctors: Chekhov, Conan Doyle, Somerset Maugham and, most recently, Abraham Verghese. But I am still astonished that you can manage to do both things. How do you find the time? Do you follow a schedule? Or just write when inspiration strikes?
Susannah Begbie: I work as a GP part-time and write part-time. If I waited for the inspiration to strike I’d be waiting a very long time! For the past year or two I have been doing locum work (relief work) in rural areas. I do a month or two of GP work, then a month of writing. I’m very lucky. I go to rural communities all over Australia and meet the amazing people who live and work in them. It’s a great privilege.
ARR.News: The characters in your book all have ‘back stories’, some of them quite dark. One of the pleasures of reading it is to find out how they have overcome their various problems. But one still puzzles me: the woman who doesn’t want her partner to come to the farm. Is there something wrong with him that she doesn’t want people to know about?
Susannah Begbie: Quite the contrary. She’s terrified of having her life upended by seeing her steady, stabilising partner, collide with her family and their highly critical culture.
ARR.News: Another, more technical question: one of the women had an abortion when she was still at school. This was apparently arranged by the school counsellor, without consulting the family. I was astonished this could happen. Was it legal?
Susannah Begbie: Good question. It is legal for a woman to have an abortion without parental consent (though she must give informed consent herself) from 16 years and upwards, and in some circumstances younger than 16 years. The girl was 17 at the time of her abortion. In terms of the school counsellor’s role, I think there are many situations in which a professional goes beyond their remit – particularly if they feel strongly about the issue at hand.
ARR.News: I was slightly surprised that you chose an immigrant to carry out Tom’s ridiculous request, from which he himself would benefit? Why did you do that?
Susannah Begbie: Another good question. He is not simply the one doing the dirty work. Rather, he has, for decades, looked after the legal affairs in a town where he is still treated as an outsider, no matter what work he has done. In the circumstances I can readily see him wanting a way out of his situation. It is my hope that readers will get some understanding of this through the chapters told in his voice.
ARR.News: What next?
Susannah Begbie: Right now I’m working on my second novel. I’ve been working on it for a while, but there’s still a long way to go. The Deed took me 10 years to write! I loved it though. I grew fond of all the characters, even though they have some serious faults. I hope readers can identify with them too. I hope people enjoy reading The Deed as much as I enjoyed writing it.
ARR.News: This is wonderful news. I am not sure I can wait ten years, so I wish you a speedy outcome. I know it will be successful and thank you for your work to date.
This interview is supported by the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund.
Related story: Review – The Deed.
