HAVING just retired from paediatric nursing, Sue Gore is set to launch a new career as an author.
The Victoria Point mother of two and grandmother of four has had a novella Hummingbird published by Austin Macauley.
The historical fiction draws on Mrs Gore's work as a practising psychic, telling the story of a woman Sarah living in the early to mid 17th century England.
Mrs Gore comes from a family with spiritual connections. "My grandmother was a gypsy," Mrs Gore said. "She would read tea leaves and travelled around until she married my grandfather."
Mrs Gore's story is set at a time when people were burnt at the stake if found to be a practising medium.
"Sarah is a young woman who pursues a gift that she's been given," Mrs Gore said. "She lives at a time when women were not thought of highly and were regarded as second-class citizens."
Set in Norfolk, the book required Mrs Gore to research the history of the time. She said the publishers said, when accepting her book for publication, that her research was impressive.
Mrs Gore said that writing a book was something she had always wanted to do. "I have always loved writing," she said.
Mrs Gore has completed an online writing course and won a second place for a poem that was published in the United States.
She started Hummingbird about 18 months ago and was over the moon to be published after being knocked back by just one publisher.
The achievement is very meaningful for her. "When I was little I was always told that I wouldn't amount to anything," she said. "But now I have achieved so much. I have got a degree and am a published author."
Mrs Gore is about a third of the way through her next book which is based in Yorkshire, northern England from where she moved 30 years ago.
"It is a similar type of book but based in 1923," she said. "It is also about a lady who is a psychic or medium and the things she comes across."
Married for 46 years, Mrs Gore planned to travel with husband Terry in her retirement. Her new career has not put a stop to that.
"Writing will travel with me," she said.
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