Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 46

INSPIRATION A GHOSTLY TALE GHOSTS HAVE ALWAYS FASCINATED ME, SO I HAVE BEEN LONGING TO WRITE A TALE OF GHOSTS, MURDER, MYSTERY AND A HAUNTED MANSION. TEN YEARS AGO MY HUSBAND, ROB, AND I BOUGHT A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD COTTAGE IN MANLY, THE OLDEST HOUSE IN THE STREET. WHEN WE MOVED IN, THE HOUSE WAS FULL OF MYSTERIOUS CREAKS AND GROANS, AND DOORS THAT WOULD BANG SHUT BY THEMSELVES. MY CHILDREN – WHO WERE SIX, FOUR AND TWO – ANNOUNCED THAT THERE WAS A GHOST LIVING IN THEIR BEDROOM. I THOUGHT THEY WERE IMAGINING THINGS, UNTIL A MYSTERIOUS NOTE APPEARED ON THEIR BOOKSHELF ONE DAY . . . T he note was written in the distinctive hand-writing of my grandmother, who had very sadly died just a few weeks before. The note, written on pink note-paper, simply said ‘Remember I will always love you, Nonnie.’ The amazing thing about the appearance of this note was that no-one admitted to putting it there, although I asked my husband and all my children. The other thing was that it appeared at a very stressful time in my life – my grandmother had just died, we had just bought a new house, renovated and moved, and my eldest son Nick had been in hospital with a life-threatening illness – all in a matter of a few weeks. I felt as though the n