“I don’t actually think a sense of place is one of my strengths. I find dialogue and character come easily to me, but I’m not somebody who describes scenery particularly well, and I have a very poor memory about anywhere that I’ve visited. I remember the people that I meet, but I find it hard to remember the actual places, which is why I always set all my books in Australia—I can literally look out the window and see where I am!
But it’s interesting to me that even if I’ve just written a few lines, readers can create a whole picture in their head that’s maybe not necessarily in mine. I love that—it’s my imagination working in tandem with theirs. There’s not one particular beach that the Pirriwee Peninsula in Big Little Lies and Big Little Truths is based on, for example—but a lot of people think that it’s Avalon Beach, north of Sydney. I describe these two giant pine trees, which are also in Avalon Beach—the surfers climb them to see the surf—and people are so adamant that this is where this is. My second novel, The Last Anniversary, was set on a small island on the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales. I visited an island called Ganga Island, and then I created a fictional island called Scribbly Gum Island, which I know people have actually looked up and contacted the tourism board in Sydney to find out how to get there. I like that the places take on a life outside of my books, like people almost want them to exist so they can go and visit them.
I’m always interested, in the same way that Agatha Christie always wanted to put her characters in an enclosed setting, in putting my characters in small beachside or island communities. For Big Little Lies, I was really interested in those beachside communities where people from all walks of life live. It seemed very particular to them that you can have really wealthy people and also people who are struggling financially and who don’t have huge homes with water views, and I just love the fact that they’re all suddenly coming together at the local school. It is true to life and the northern beaches of Sydney where I have lived. I use the term “insular peninsula,” because they’re such beautiful places to live that people joke that, especially if they work in the area, they just never leave.
