Mhairead MacLeod
A European Travelblog – on the story trail

A European Travelblog – on the story trail

by | Jan 18, 2025 | Blog

The view above is of the Danube Valley as seen from the exquisite Benedictine abbey at Melk, Austria. The abbey’s roots go back to the eleventh century. I visited the abbey as part of my tour of the autumn-coloured villages of Europe. It was a dual mission –...
New Release

New Release

by | Jan 15, 2025 | Blog

I’m happy to say that I am starting 2025 with the fresh release of A Hospital in the Clouds – second edition. The novel takes place in the 1920s in Cairns, Far North Australia, and was inspired by two women, one of whom is remembered by her crime, but...
LOSS

LOSS

by | Aug 26, 2024 | Blog

On the evening of the Wolf Moon in January, 2020, my writing stopped. The precise moment happened when I was buying an ice-cream cake with my daughter for her son’s 10th birthday party. Her doctor made a last-minute call to her before heading home for his Friday-night...
THE WEIGHT OF SECRETS

THE WEIGHT OF SECRETS

by | Nov 6, 2023 | Blog

The attraction of the theme of secrecy in a novel perhaps is not just to do with the drama of whether it will be discovered, but more about how it is borne by the character.

Suffragettes and other Rabble-rousers

Suffragettes and other Rabble-rousers

by | Mar 21, 2023 | Blog

Emma Miller, suffragist and trade-union organiser, lived in Queensland, Australia, during the time set in my forthcoming novel, A Hospital in the Clouds. My story was inspired by women such as Miller and she is one of the best remembered suffragists of the early...