Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 5

AUTHOR

ABOUT

BELINDA MURRELL
9) and her time-slip tales: The Locket of
Dreams, The Ruby Talisman, The Ivory
Rose, The Forgotten Pearl, The River
Charm and The Sequin Star.

A family of writers

A

t about the age of eight,
Belinda Murrell began writing
stirring tales of adventure,
mystery and magic, in handillustrated exercise books. As an adult,
she combined two of her great loves
– writing and travelling the world – and
worked as a travel journalist, technical
writer and public relations consultant.
Now, inspired by her own three children,
Belinda is a bestselling, internationally
published children’s author. Her titles
include her fantasy adventure series,
The Sun Sword Trilogy, a series called
Lulu Bell for younger readers (aged 6 to

Belinda comes from a long line of writers
and her family recently celebrated the
170th anniversary of the first Australian
children’s book, A Mother’s Offering
to Her Children, written by Belinda’s
great-great-great-great-grandmother,
Charlotte Waring Atkinson. Writing runs
in the family: both Belinda’s brother, Nick
Humphrey, and sister, Kate Forsyth, are
published authors.

The trip that inspired
it all

gold and gemstones and exploring the
Strzelecki Desert.
While most people would think that
this sounds like a holiday, Belinda insists
she was working, assuring us that she
spent the time researching her timeslip novels, particularly The Locket of
Dreams, The Ruby Talisman and
The Forgotten Pearl.
Belinda lives in Manly in a gorgeous
old house overlooking the sea with
her husband, Rob, her three beautiful
children and her dog, Rosie. Find out
more about Belinda at her website:
www.belindamurrell.com.au

Belinda as a child with her
younger sister, Kate Forsyth.

A few years ago, Belinda and her family
‘ran away’ and spent two years travelling.
The trip included five months touring
Europe and an 18-month journey around
Australia in a caravan. Belinda homeschooled her three children during this
time and they had lots of adventures
including living with an Aboriginal family
on the remote Dampier Peninsula, staying
on vast outback cattle stations, sailing the
islands of the Barrier Reef, fossicking for

‘Murrell’s engaging, descriptive style immerses the
reader in the era. We feel the steamy heat of Darwin,
hear the sweet voice of Vera Lynn and feel the terror
as the invasion strikes. Murrell’s careful research and
family anecdotes provide the backbone of a tale that is
not only informative and enlightening, but enthralling.
In Poppy, Murrell has created a character that will
hopefully inspire young readers with her courage,
kindness, resourcefulness, resilience, loving care and
respect. If I were the mother of a maturing daughter,
this is exactly the kind of book I would encourage her
to read. I can’t give it much higher praise than that.

Awards

and shortlistings

• CBCA Notable Book 2012
• Honour Book 2013 KOALA
(Kids Own Australian
Literary Award)
• Multiple shortlistings for
KOALA, YABBA, COOL and
WAYBRA Awards
• Shortlisted Speech
Pathology Book of the Year
2010 & 2012

Dani Colvin, Sunday Tasmanian, reviewing The Forgotten Pearl

randomhouse.com.au/teachers 5