Writer
Nadine has been creating stories for as long as she can remember and she started writing her first novel when she was 12. It was a fantasy story about a boy called Tom, his friend the Unicorn and an evil beast called the Sniggi-nossam who tormented the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest on the other side of the River or Dreams. Unfortunately, after only four chapters were completed, the manuscript, kept in a carefully ordered folder, was lost forever. Devastated by this loss, Nadine ceased all creative writing pursuits that were not directly linked to school or university education, but her mind continued to conjure.
When she enrolled in a creative writing unit as part of her university degree she started to pen her life-story and ten years later, Wobbles - An Olympic Story won the IP Picks Award 2009 for 'Best Creative Non-Fiction'. She feels incredibly fortunate to have been given this break and, with a renewed faith in writing and her capacity to not lose manuscripts, she is embarking on bringing life to a number of those ideas she has been thinking about for many years.
Nadine is currently working on her first "real" novel called Lily & Marguerite. It tells the parallel and intersecting stories of two young women, one German and the other a French Jew, during their experiences in World War II, post-war Europe and their eventual migration to Australia. Inspired by the lives of Nadine's grandmothers, the story looks at the suffering on both sides of war, at fractured lives and the search for wholeness, and how our common humanity can be the greatest healing force.
She is also working on a picture book dealing with bullying and has plans for four more novels and a series of children's stories.
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WOBBLES - AN OLYMPIC STORY
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"There are moments when the world slows down for us, when time expands so that we can feel, see, smell acutely that instant, and we become aware that these few moments will change our life. I had a thousand thoughts that stopped rushing for a few minutes - just long enough for me to swim four laps of the pool that would play host to the Olympics of the millennium."
This is Nadine's story. With skill, Nadine takes you inside the raw emotion of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the shock of a broken neck and the struggle to find balance in a life driven by the search for the perfect race. This candid and fresh insight into the world of elite-level swimming spans her career from the dream to what happened to an athlete after the show was all over. This is a story about an ordinary girl who wanted something extraordinary; a story about striving, about growing and learning from life, whatever it may hold. |
What others have said:
"A raw and honest account about the tensions, contradictions and passions of aspiring to become an elite athlete. Nadine's story is a personal depiction of her journey and how she made sense of it all to become a happy, well balanced exceptional human being. A great read for those who think they have what it takes to get involved in the world of elite sport."
- Deidre Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, U@MQ
"Get ready to leap out of your seat, shed a tear, giggle stupidly, and punch the air. This story will take you on a unique journey through the world of elite sport. Nadine's journey should be essential reading for anyone contemplating life as an elite sportsperson. Nadine wasn't one of Australia's fastest or most successful swimmers, but she just might be one of the most courageous."
- Duncan Armstrong - Olympian, Sports Presenter
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