• Home
  • Articles
    • Front Page
    • General Interest
    • Special Interests
    • Snippets
    • Mayoral Notes
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Competitions
    • Sydney Royal Easter Show Giveaway
  • Our Community
    • Our People
    • Question of the Week
    • Jobs in the Central West
    • Be Seen
    • What’s On
  • Special Interests
    • Women In Business
    • Rural Round Up
    • My Place
    • Health & Wellbeing
    • Loving Local Living
    • Just a Short Drive
    • Real Estate
  • Sports
    • Bowls
    • Cricket
    • Equestrian
    • Footy Tips
    • Golf
    • Netball
    • Rugby League
    • Rugby Union
    • Soccer
    • Touch Football
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Page
    • Advertise with us
    • Testimonials
    • Submit an Article
    • Subscribe to the Parkes Phoenix

Parkes Phoenix

Unstoppable At 87

April 28, 2016 By Maggi Barnard

IMG_3556

Life with a large family on a farming property has left 87-year-old Margaret Dwyer with a treasure trove of memories and scenarios to help inspire her third book to be released on 14th May. “I’d like to call it factual fiction,” said Margaret, a mother of seven who dedicated ‘A Chain Of Dreams’ to her husband and children for providing her with the inspiration to write her first work of fiction.

Proudly holding the finished product in her hand, Margaret’s eyes light up when she recalls how she has always enjoyed writing. She was busy dusting in her father’s office once day when he opened his iron safe and took out a little exercise book of hers from third grade. Inside was a conversation she had written between a Mater lorry and a draught horse. In the tale Mrs Horse met Mater lorry and said she had not been very well lately as she had given birth to a little foal, to which Mater lorry replied he had given birth to a baby Austen.

“I suppose I’ve always had a little streak of it in me” says Margaret. However it was many years before Margaret published a book, releasing the autobiography ‘With a Song in my Heart’ at the age of 82. “I was always just too busy with seven children and cooking for shearers on the farm.” The serious writing began five years ago
when she and husband Frank moved to Parkes and Margaret had to nurse him through his illness. “I would put my husband to bed at night and start writing until two in the morning, often waking him to check a fact or date.”

In 2014 her second book ‘Jewels Along The Newell’ was released focusing on funny, tragic and inspiring stories of the people who have made their home along the Newell Highway over the past 100 years. It took Margaret only 12 months to complete her third book, but a very long time to find a publisher, which she accomplished mostly by herself.

‘A Chain Of Dreams’ is the story of an ordinary Australian farming family told through protagonist, Tish O’Reagan, who accepts a scholarship to study at the Trinity College of Music in Dublin where she moves to with her parents and spirited sister Louise. “I have become very fond of this family, and would love to write a sequel,” said Margaret, who already has the beginning formulated in her head. She is quick to admit that she loosely based some of the family members on the characters in her favourite book ‘Little Women’. ‘A Chain Of Dreams’ is available to purchase in softcover or as an e-book via Balboa Press.

Filed Under: Articles, General Interest

Latest Print Editions

Click here to download the recent issue (314) of The Parkes Phoenix (2.2MB PDF) – 1st July 2022

STAY CONNECTED

The Parkes Phoenix would like to thank you, our Facebook friends, for your continued support and readership!

SEARCH THE PHOENIX

Recent Articles

  • News From PSCB July 1, 2022
  • One Night Outside To Help Homeless July 1, 2022
  • Top Chamber Music Outfit To Play In Parkes July 1, 2022
  • Snippets… July 1, 2022
  • Dire Health Care Situation Inspires Hannah July 1, 2022

CONTACT THE PHOENIX

Address
7/113-127 Rankin Street, Forbes NSW 2871

Editorial Phone –  0403 080 085
 editor@parkesphoenix.com.au

Sales Phone – 0476 110 953
sales@parkesphoenix.com.au

View our Privacy Policy.
View our Conflict Resolution Process.
View our Ethics and Complaints Policy.
Want to advertise with us?
Information on our Community Promotions.

Submit an Article

We are always looking for new articles of interest to the local community.

Please feel free to submit an article for possible inclusion in a future issue.

To submit an article, click here to use our online article submission form.

Recieve the Phoenix via email

* indicates required

Copyright © 2022 · Website setup by WebSysMan