by Debra Oswald
She’d met a number of extraordinary individuals in here: funny, damaged, spiky, strong women. She accepted she would never work as a doctor again, but there was satisfaction in offering medical advice and reassurance to her fellow inmates, though she was always careful not to encroach on the territory of the prison doctor.
There were nights when sleep seemed impossible. Worries churned in her skull about women she knew who would be facing perilous situations and violent men once they were released from jail. To control the traffic in her mind, Paula would compile lists of strategies to keep those women safe. Once she had a plan of useful things that could be done and solutions to suggest, she could usually settle herself.
If difficult thoughts still intruded as she lay there, Paula would resort to summoning up joyful scenes in her imagination. Scenes with Rochelle and Brody, Brooke and her baby, Nicole and Ruby and Jye. As she drifted into a drowsy state, the figures merged with each other, sometimes merging with Stacey and Cameron and Poppy too, but it was in a glorious way, all of them humming with life, and the hum would lull her into the sleep she would need to do the jobs she’d set herself for the next day.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I OWE ENORMOUS THANKS TO HELEN BARRY, MICHAEL O’BRIEN and Ben Hoffman for help with legal stuff and for generously answering my many questions. I’m very grateful to my sister, Dr Karen Oswald, for help with medical matters and insight into her career as a dedicated family GP. Thanks to Kerrie Laurence, Dr Michele Franks and Fiona Brown for help with various corners of the story. Thanks to Michael Wynne, Dale Druhan, Shelley Eves, Michael Lucas and Annabelle Sheehan for listening and/ or reading as the story developed. I feel hugely fortunate to have my wonderful agent, Anthony Blair.
I’m so grateful to Jane Palfreyman for her enthusiasm for the book right from the start and for her passionate and astute guidance through the process. Thanks to Ali Lavau for thoughtful, generous, valuable notes, and to Christa Munns and everyone at Allen & Unwin for helping put this book into the world with such care.
As always, biggest thanks to my partner Richard Glover for his advice, draft-reading, support and for … well, everything.