Claire Nicholls

What can you tell me about this rash?

And we can't say what it's evolving into.

So we're kind of dancing around things a little bit.

But I would say read on.

It is pretty shocking.

And, of course, what we're looking at here, Romy, is what seems like another pandemic.

And, you know, it's even referenced in the book, oh, we're doing this again.

Oh, what a way to make a reader instantly anxious, Romy.

So our main character, Ursula, is a geologist.

Why was it important to give her that profession?

Yeah, and of course we're thinking about deep time, changes over time.

This is also a way to talk about climate change, right?

The other thing that we're thinking about in this book is the salmon farming.

You know, there on the Tasmanian coast, you get the sense that these characters are just looking out at the water and looking at these farms.

They're always in sight.

They're always in the back of their mind.

Why was this such an important part of the book for you, Romy?

You know, it strikes me, Romy, that fiction, for the most part, is very nuanced.

It lets us make up our own minds.

But I felt that when it came to farming salmon, you were quite happy to be didactic.