Inheritance

'A deeply humane and enthralling story.' Alex Miller


'We have lost a fine writer in Kath O'Connor. Her steadfast, calm heart shines through here, though - empathic, courageous and incisive.' Cate Kennedy


'Poised, intense, heart-breaking.' Carmel Bird


In 2016, while in the early stages of IVF, Rose is shaken by the discovery that she carries a dangerous mutation of the BrCa1 gene. She begins to ask questions about her family history, and particularly her grandmother Nellie, whose early death left a hole in their family that was never quite filled. As the certainties in Rose's life start to crumble around her, she becomes fixated on the shadowy figure of Nellie. Who really was this woman, and could her secrets reveal the way forward for the granddaughter who may share her fatal gene?

Inheritance tells the stories of two similar women in very different worlds, exploring how our circumstances - and the time and society we live in - can collide with what we've inherited to shape our lives. It's a breathtaking and profoundly moving exploration of love, death and the dignified beauty of a quiet life.

In 2019, writer and General Practitioner Dr Kath O'Connor died from ovarian cancer while working on the final draft of Inheritance. Her partner and family, with Kath's writing mentor, Inga Simpson, completed the manuscript so that Kath's dream of publication could be realised and this beautiful novel could be shared. Royalties from the sale of the book will be donated to WomenCan: Funding Gynaecological Cancer Research.

Kath O'Connor was a general practitioner, writer, swimmer and medical editor. She had essays and articles published in Eureka Street, The Australian Family Physician and the Medical Journal of Australia. Inheritance was completed after Kath won an Affirm Press mentorship. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2015 and wrote this novel while living with cancer, through many treatments and their side effects. After Kath's diagnosis, she discovered that she shared a BrCa1 gene mutation with her grandmother, who died from the same disease in 1950. Kath lived in Castlemaine with her partner and their animals and died in 2019 at only 45 years old.

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