3 hours Ago By Hibiscus Matters
Inspired by a childhood fascination with Japan, Red Beach author Trish Devine drew on her experiences and memories of working as an English teacher in Hiroshima to write her first novel Rising Sun Falling Rain.Creativity has always been part of her life, and once she retired from fulltime teaching eight years ago, Trish embraced the creative life with gusto, she says.“I was like a kid in a candy shop of creative possibilities.
”After trying various creative avenues such a creating a Wearable Arts Costume, Trish joined a weekly writers’ group and began working on a historical novel based in Sydney, which she researched while visiting her daughter who lived there.However, when she had to stay home in Red Beach during the Covid-19 pandemic, Trish turned to her memories for inspiration.“When the pandemic hit, I had to rethink what I was going to write about.
What is a place I can research and get information when I couldn’t travel?”Japan had fascinated for her since she was a child, she had visited and also taught English in Hiroshima, so Trish contemplated how to place a story there.“Too me, it was a place that was magical and special and somehow significant to me.However, she needed to find a way represent it authentically, she says.
“So the best time was straight after the war, during the US occupation when New Zealand called for volunteers for the J force, and they had more volunteers than needed. “That gave me a chance, and thinking a little further, who could I take into the story who was going to be naïve about Japan, and it’s going to be a Kiwi.“I decided to write the story of a J Force volunteer coming out of rural Taranaki, where I grew up, and I knew those people; my dad, my brothers, all the men in my community had the same ideas and skills that my main character has.
”Her experiences and the people she met while teaching in Hiroshima also inspired informed the story. “Adjoining the school where I taught was a hospital and retirement home for people who had been involved in the bombing and many of them had health issues and had suffered all their lives because of the bombing.”Rising Sun Falling Rain, which the story of serviceman Mick Mitchell who tackles the recovery of Hiroshima with compassion, Kiwi ingenuity and the determination to make a difference.
He meets 18-year-old Emiko Tanazawa and they fall in love and marry, but dreams are not enough and 20 years later, their daughter sets out to unlock the past.Hibiscus Matters has a copy of ‘Rising Sun, Falling Rain’ to give away. To go in the draw, email your name and phone number to hibiscusnews@localmatters.
co.nzwith ‘Rising Sun, Falling Rain’ in the subject line. Or post/drop-off your entry to us at 21 Florence Avenue, Ōrewa.
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