3 minute read
Life experience behind author’s fiction
Liz Bell liz@mpnews.com.au
MERRICKS author Megan Rogers is not wasting time when it comes to telling stories, having signed a twobook deal for her novel The Anatomy of Tears.
Rogers’ book is about Simone Wells, a psychologist who specialises in the language of pain, and whose own life falls apart due to her own pain. Wells escapes by taking a job in a country town needing a pain specialist, where she learns the stories of the locals, and realises there is more than one mystery to be solved.
At the same time Wells questions herself and fears she is far from the woman for the job.
Like much of Rogers’ other writing, the book has its roots in feminine empowerment as it explores the ways in which pain makes us human and how beautiful life can be even when it seems broken. Life is too beautiful to waste time.
The Anatomy of Tears is a timely exploration of the relationship between loneliness and pain, and about how joy can be found in the most unlikely of places.
As a woman in her 40s who has straddled work life and parenthood, and having been confronted by pain and grief, Rogers draws on lived experience to give her characters emotional depth.
“My dad became unwell with dementia and passed away not long ago, and it really made me realise that we need to follow our dreams and look at how we use our time,” she said.
“I wanted to take the advice I give me daughter: life is short.”
Rogers’ other recent book The Heart is a Star was number four in Australian fiction in the week of its release and has sold more than 10,000 copies to date. The book won her a raft of fans and is one of the bestselling Australian debut novels in 2023.
Its protagonist is also a strong but exhausted female, Layla Byrnes, who is juggling a demanding job as an anaesthetist, a disintegrating marriage, her young children, and a needy lover. Most particularly, she's managing her histrionically unstable mother, who repeatedly threatens to kill herself.
Rogers says her latest book The Anatomy of Tears was an idea that took hold of her heart a long time ago .
“I'm incredibly excited to bring it to life, especially at a time when pain and loneliness are such important and relevant issues in so many people's lives,” she said.
“I'm also looking forward to exploring the ways in which community, connection and long-held wisdom can be a kind of medicine.”
The Anatomy of Tears will be published under the Fourth Estate imprint by HarperCollins in late 2025.
Rogers began her working life as an editorial assistant at Allen & Unwin, before moving to the State Library of Victoria, in marketing. In 2014 she finished a PhD in creative writing at RMIT, which resulted in the book, Finding the Plot, A Maternal Approach to Madness in Literature published by feminist publisher Demeter Press.
She also has a Bachelor of Arts/Science (Monash), a Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing (RMIT), a Graduate Diploma in Professional Communication (Deakin), and a Masters of Marketing (Monash).
