Today in the Confessional, host Sandy Lowres chat with Megan Rogers, the Australian author of The Heart is a Star - an absorbing and gripping novel, told beautifully.

This is a powerful novel that explores the messiness and complexity of midlife, about the ways in which we navigate an intricate, complicated world; and about how we can uncover our true selves when we are forced to face the myths that make us.

"Layla Byrnes is exhausted. She's juggling a demanding job as an anaesthetist, a disintegrating marriage, her young kids, and a needy lover. And most particularly she's managing her histrionically unstable mother, who repeatedly threatens to kill herself. But this year, it's different. When her mother rings just before Christmas, she doesn't follow the usual script. Instead, she tells Layla that there's something she needs to tell her about her much-loved father. In response, Layla drops everything to rush to her childhood home on the wild west coast of Tasmania. She's determined to finally confront her mother - and find out what really happened to her father - and lay some demons to rest."

Megan shares her wisdom also. She grew up moving around, which instilled in her a respect for small-town characters and a dislike of linoleum in rental properties. She spent most of her primary school years scribbling in her mother’s 1970s herb books and then telling people they were novels she’d written and published. The Heart is a Star is an engrossing, lyrical and powerfully absorbing novel. You won't see the twists and turns coming.

You can see Megan's own heart throughout the characters.

You won't want to miss this episode.

You can follow Megan Rogers here:
https://www.meganrogerswriter.com/about
https://www.instagram.com/megan_rogers_writer

You can buy The Heart is a Star here (or in good bookstores):
https://cardioid-cobalt-rbj9.squarespace.com/home/books

-
The Good Girl Confessional is the award-winning Podcast of WB40 - Women Beyond Forty, a platform for women 40, 50, 60 and beyond.

Join the revolution: www.wb40.com https://www.instagram.com/womenbeyondforty https://www.instagram.com/thegoodgirlconfessional https://www.facebook.com/thegoodgirlconfessional

Wb40 and The Good Girl Confessional Acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land we record this podcast on, the Wurrundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nations and pay out respect to their elders, past, present, and emerging.