World War 2 is one of the greatest and most horrible lessons humanity has ever learned — sometimes, I wonder if we have learned everything we should. It’s been fodder for so many movies, books and TV and Lorraine Campbell provides the newest entry to this genre, set in Australia in the 1960s: The Butterfly Enigma (reviewed at the link).
Lorraine is a licensed a licensed shorthand writer and worked for seventeen years as a court reporter with the Victoria Government Reporting Service. In The Butterfly Engima, Lena, the main character becomes a court reporter post a horrible divorce, and begins to rebuild her life. It’s through her job that her search into her past begins. The book was an engrossing read, with a main character that proved was complicated, messy and yes, even hard to like — and all that made her all the more riveting — characters like this make reading so much fun! I spent my time reading this book going Lena no! and cheering her on.
This is what Lorraine says about working as a court reporter:
“Working as a court reporter over the years, I heard some incredible stories in the Melbourne Law Courts – but the tales of Nazi war criminals living in Australia and the many unsuccessful attempts to bring them to justice filled me with an ongoing and abiding sense of outrage. Why could these mass murderers never be put on trial for their heinous crimes? So I decided to bring this part of Australia’s history to life.”
I find this amazing; can you imagine the stories a court reporter hears? Read on to find out more about Lorraine, her time as a court reporter, and why she’s a research junkie.
How did you find become a court reporter? What was it like?
I became a court reporter purely by chance. It happened just as it appears in The Butterfly Enigma. One of those chance encounters that changes the course of your life forever. I was working as a legal secretary and one of the women there told me about it. My first experience as a court reporter was quite a shock. Working in the criminal jurisdiction, you’re confronted with that dark underside of society that most members of the public never get to see. Hearing the graphic details of violent rapes, or the sexual abuse of children, was particularly shocking and upsetting. But like all those who work in the criminal courts – judges, barristers, police, court staff – you learn to deal with it. And, of course, there are the other jurisdictions you work in as well: commercial, civil juries, probate, bail applications. The great thing about being a court reporter is the constant variety. Every day is different, and every day you learn something new.
What led you to start writing?
I had always been an avid reader, from my earliest childhood. But it was only when I went back to University and did an Arts Degree, that I discovered my love of writing. For me it became that creative outlet I had always been longing for. My father was an artist, and I realise now it was such a gift: being brought up in a house with a working artist. It engendered in all of us children that sense of creativity. The joy of being able to express oneself through some form of artistic endeavour.
What is it about historical fiction (and WW2) that captures your imagination as a writer?
I’ve always had a great love of history. History is the story of our past. It explains why the world is the way it is today. The seeds of what is happening today were sewn in the events of the past. I’ve always had a particular fascination the history of WWII. That tumultuous time in history when the whole world was at war. Many of the freedoms we take for granted today are due to the sacrifices made by others during that time. What if our country were invaded by the enemy? Would we keep our heads down, try to stay out of trouble? Would we collaborate with the enemy? Or would we choose to live dangerously and actively resist? These are some of the issues I wanted to explore as a writer.
What are the best and worst parts of writing in this genre for you?
For me, there are no worst parts. I guess writing contemporary fiction would be much easier. You just walk out the front door and it’s all there. But I’m a research junkie. I absolutely love researching history.
What inspired The Butterfly Engima?
Working in the Law Courts, I was always aware of the ongoing media reporting and exposés over the years about Nazi war criminals living in Australia. About the many unsuccessful attempts to bring them to justice. I felt an ongoing and abiding sense of outrage that our judicial system was somehow prevented from putting these mass murderers on trial for their heinous crimes. So I decided to bring this shameful part of Australia’s history to life through a fictional character. To write about a young woman who decides to go after justice on her own – on behalf of the forgotten dead. Sometimes it comes down to one woman against the world.
One of the things that struck me about Lena was that she was hard to like some times, but still I cheered her on in her investigations – she’s a strong, complicated character, and this is the best part, who makes no apologies to anyone for who she is – in a very conservative time. Who or what inspired her?
Yes, Lena is a very complex character. Full of inner contradictions. A mixture of gutsiness and vulnerability, prevarication and determination. A modern woman, trying to live out some of the ideas of Simone de Beauvoir, the feminist philosopher she particularly admires. Lena is actually one of the minor characters who appears in Book 2 of the Resisting the Enemy series. A six-year old child found wandering the streets of wartime Paris. I needed a strong, determined independent-minded protagonist to carry the weight of the dramatic and emotional thrust of the story. Lena, a survivor, an adopted child, with an unknowable background, was perfect for the part.
Can you tell me a little about the time the book is set in Australia, and why you chose this for the story?
I wanted to set the book in the 1960s – the “Swinging Sixties” – because it was that amazing time in world history when everything was changing. It was the age of the mini-skirt, the contraceptive pill, sexual revolution and radical social change. In France students were rioting against an oppressive society and a rigid educational system. In America they were marching against racial inequality. Here in Australia, there were anti-Vietnam war protests in the streets. There’s never been a decade like it, when the tectonic plates of a staid and conservative society were grinding up against a whole new world of freedoms and ideas.
What was the most difficult part of writing in that era?
I guess it was no different from writing about any other era. If you want to write authentic historical fiction, you need to be familiar with every aspect of daily life. What clothes your characters wore, what they ate, what they had for breakfast. Were photocopiers in use then? When did electric typewriters come in? What slang words people used. There’s nothing more jarring in historical fiction that coming across an anachronistic word or phrase that clearly belongs in the modern era. And that’s even before you start researching all the historical background and politics of the time. For me, the research part is one of the most enjoyable aspects of writing historical fiction.
In the later chapters, as Lena travels overseas in pursuit of justice, I was intrigued by the detail and inclusion of the Mossad in this story – what was your research like for this story?
Researching the history of the Mossad and how it operates was absolutely fascinating. The first book I read was The House on Garibaldi Street which details the long process of kidnapping Adolf Eichmann and bringing him to trial in Israel. I also found numerous other books written by former Mossad operatives, detailing how it works and many of the covert operations they have been engaged in. I realised that the long pursuit of Nazi war criminals by the Mossad, and why it was so important to the Israeli government, needed to play a key role in the story.
What’s next for you?
I’m just waiting for some free time when I can sit down and start work on my next novel. The ideas are there, swirling around in my head. A couple of characters are taking shape. I can’t tell you any more than that. It could all change, of course, once I actually sit down and start putting words on the page.
I adored Lena and The Butterfly Engima; and Lorraine has a crafted a richly detailed story using a most difficult part of our history.
To find out more about Lorraine, check out her website.
