Ballina truck driver has a gift for story-telling

For the last 35 years East Ballina man and local freight company truck driver, Steve Nethery, has been writing.

His first novel, Heavy Load, came out a few years ago and now his second novel, Long Flight Home, was published in January this year.

“I started writing Heavy Load 25 years ago and started it freehand,”

Steve said.

“Long Flight Home took five years.”

While Long Flight Home is not a sequel to Heavy Load, it is connected through the character Father Frank Casey.

“In Heavy Load he is only a small character, but it was suggested to me that he could have a story on his own,” said Steve.

“So I started writing Long Flight Home from there.”

While both books are works of fiction, Steve’s style is such that the lives of the men that are written about could be true.

In Long Flight Home, Father Casey is a knockabout Catholic priest of Irish convict descent.

While he is very much a no nonsense man, he is also very human and his best and worst traits come out in the book.

“He calls a spade a spade and his life is dedicated to helping the underprivileged,” said Steve.

We follow Frank’s story from his childhood days, through his war years and to when he trains as a priest and his achievements thereafter.

When it came to writing Frank’s story, Steve drew on his own experiences in life.

“I was brought up in a big Catholic family, being one of eight,” he said.

“In fact, I am the seventh child of the seventh child his six brothers, with all of them surviving.” of the seventh child.

In the novel, Frank is part of the missions of the Lancaster Bombers that flew over Germany during World War Two.

Steve drew on this, using the experience of his uncle Cyril Nethery who flew 18 missions over Germany and Czechoslovakia.

“Dad was also a World War Two veteran as were

Rugby also features prominently in the story as all Steve’s uncles played first grade rugby union for St George.

Feedback from both Heavy Load and Long

Flight Home have been positive for Steve spurring him to start his third novel.

“I’ve had people say they can’t put the book down, or they couldn’t wait to pick it up again,” he said. His next novel will be about the mysterious stories and sightings of the yowie, entitled The Devil’s Hole.

“I’ve always had an interest in yowies,” he said.

“I’ve heard a few reports about yowie experiences and I know it is deeply embedded in Indigenous culture.”

If you would like a copy of Steve’s new novel Long Flight Home, or would like to read his first, Heavy Load, you can go to his website www.senethery.com or order off the Amazon website.

For a signed copy you can email him at stephen. nethery@bigpond.com.