Guest blogger: Susan Mackie

Fact is stranger than fiction

Readers ask me three main questions: Will you ever run out of ideas? Is there anything of you in your books? When is the next book coming out?

With eight published books in the Barrington series released since Jan 2020, I really thought I’d be done with Barrington by now. But apparently, and happily, not.

The storylines keep coming and I freely admit that I’m as invested in my characters and the small town of Barrington as my readers. The real Barrington is little more than a village, so I’ve reimagined it more like the nearby township of Gloucester.

Ideas arrive at the strangest times. Walking out for my morning coffee the other day, a business concept popped into my head—more of an event, really—and I immediately thought one of the characters could (should) run with it. So it’s in the pipeline for my current story, or the one after.

Book two—A Place to Start Over—featured Harriet Russell leaving Sydney for a tree change after a devastating injury. I personally had a devastating injury when I was 24, and this was the prompt for Harriet’s story. However, when I wrote the accident as it happened to me—I rode a motorbike off a cliff (accidentally) and was impaled by a tree branch through my lower abdomen—it seemed quite unbelievable. I changed the storyline to a bag snatch/stabbing on a Sydney train platform. Sigh. Fact is indeed stranger than fiction.

And if you happen to know me, just a little, through social media or friends of friends of friends—then you will know that I sneak small personal things into each story. Mackie is my pen name, stolen from my Scottish grandmother. But I love my maiden name (Tyrrell) and some of you may know of the winery in NSW called Tyrrells Wines. The characters in my books almost always drink a bottle of Tyrrells at some point during the story. And why wouldn’t they? Fact is stranger than.

The Bee Whisperer, released in May 2023, is loosely based on my very own bee whisperer—my youngest daughter, Emily. She often tells people my book is a prophecy, as I named the lead character Ayla—and Emily now has a business partner called Ayla that she met after I wrote the story. Stranger than. Although the romance bit has not materialised for her. Yet.

Oh. And here’s another little tidbit. If you’ve read The Bee Whisperer, you may recall a mountain resort that had been partially burnt by forest fire some years before. (Cue maniacal laughter.) My husband (now ex) and I built that resort (or something very like it) in the early 90s and we lived in the region for a decade. The resort still exists. It didn’t burn down. But gosh, I thought of my ex when the fire ripped through it in the story! Stranger than.

I describe this series as small-town romance, but the truth is that the first book, Charlie’s Will, is small-town romantic suspense and some of the recent books are women’s fiction. They all have romance throughout, but other themes weave through the stories, too.

My new release—The Barrington Book Club—brings readers up to date with all the main characters from earlier stories, who form a book club to ensure they catch up at least once each month. It’s about books, friendships, relationships, babies and small-town businesses. There’s a new romance, too. Now about those books. The friends read 12 books over the course of a year. I chose for them to read 12 actual books, all by Australian authors. Readers are so far loving this and letting me know how many of the 12 books they’ve read themselves. A book about a book club that reads real books. Fact is, indeed, stranger than fiction.

Susan is currently offering Coffee is My Calling, the prequel to the Barrington series, for free. You can find it here.

You can find Susan Mackie here: Website | Facebook | Instagram

Or join the Barrington Book Club in real life.

The Barrington Book Club

Twelve books, nine friends, four babies and one unimaginable tragedy that will change their small town forever.

The Barrington girl-posse is back.

With friendship ties stronger than ever and often hilarious girl-banter, the women we know and love spontaneously begin a book club. Yes, it’s about reading books, but it’s also a way to ensure they catch up, altogether, one night per month. Leaving little ones with their menfolk, book club becomes the place to share fun and laughter along with hopes, dreams, secrets and fears. And lots of coffee, wine and food.

Over the course of a year, twelve books are read, four babies are born, relationships grow, businesses change and newcomers arrive. But when tragedy strikes one of their own, their small-town world is spun off its axis.

Now book club is more than girl-chat and paperbacks. It’s where they share their grief and help their small-town recover.