Her first novel, The Diamond Anchor, was reviewed here yesterday and last weekend Jennifer Mills was interviewed by Steve Dow for "The Sydney Morning Herald".
She began writing her own book alternating between May and Grace's voices, but settled on writing almost entirely in May's voice; an interesting choice given Mills has more the restless soul of a Grace. Perhaps, she agrees, she was interested in getting inside the head of someone who wants to settle down where they were born. "I guess I'm trying to deal with how my generation, as very transient people, build a sense of home and belonging," she says. Her second novel, in progress, will be a dark tale about a hitchhiker; a few years ago Mills thumbed lifts while travelling through Europe, Turkey and the United States. "I came back to Australia and knew I didn't want to live on the east coast again; I wanted to do something different." That was three years ago and she has been in Alice Springs since, and "it's very much home now".
