Silence and Slow Time (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781975905910)

Tired of writing reports, dismissive returns from academic publishing houses, marking student essays about historic abuse, Marion Steed changed her name, then wrote a one act play about recovered memories - a topic of interest at the time. Lacking access to a production company, she submitted the play to a local literary award panel. To her surprise the play was given first prize and staged. A year later a similar result, this time first prize for poetry on a related topic. Marion's novel, Rough Places, published in 2014 records life in a NSW city in the 80's. The anniversary of the earthquake of Boxing day, 1989 and post-millennial population growth in the city have given the novel a renewed interest. After years of practice in Psychology, Marion saw a need to understand the dynamics of historic abuse. Her second novel, Silence and Slow Time, published in 2017, follows Maude's recovery of speech, and with it, memories, after a head injury. Far from home, in a state-funded mental health facility, she meets an anorexic teen, a suicidal single mum, controlling therapists, a priest - an artful dodger of the long arm of the law, two gentle gender transitioners and a kindly registrar who leads a lively community for victims of historic abuse. Here Maude retrieves her faculties, makes peace with her family narratives and embraces her new life in... Occupying forces bring secrets. Secrets that, once they leave, take a long time to resurface. Valentine's return to Lake Macquarie brings him face to face with family history, supressed during the occupation by Allied forces following Pearl Harbor. Fire Angels, will be Marion's third novel.