Today’s
Author Sit-Down is with Ric McDonald, author of The Story of Job.
I asked Ric
five questions about his book.
1. 1. Please give us a high concept
(in 25 or fewer words) for what your book is about.
The Story of
Job is a historical fiction about the life of Job Symonds from London streets
to Australia covering 1868 to 1956
2.
What inspired you to write
Job's story?
I have always
been fascinated by this larger-than-life character, my great-grandfather Job
Augustus Symonds whom I never met. He was born in Hanover London 1868 and died
1956 in Cairns QLD.
I did meet
his wife my great-grandmother Alice who at the time frightened me as a four-year-old
as she sat in a rocking chair murmuring continually and dribbling, and she
passed by the time I was five at 92.
Later, stories
my grandmother Eva told me of the amazing life they led from Breaksea Island in
Albany to Rottnest, Bunbury and Darkan left me wanting more but by the time I
realised that my grandmother had passed.
My father
however was a prolific writer. He had documented the facts of the life of Job but
most of my knowledge of the Symonds family came from word of mouth, from my
grandmother Eva and my father Ean.
So over the
years I would remember such stories and jot down the summary of each from time
to time and when computers became part of my life I began to fully document the
known facts of the life of Job and Alice.
Eventually I
had filled in as much as I could in a document of 30 odd pages of mostly facts
that I had put together by 2017. As I had retired from full time work in 2015 I
had more time to devote to this task.
My initial
title of this document was For the Love of Job and a lot of my thoughts went
into understanding how he could walk away from a marriage of 20 odd years and
start afresh with another woman.
This document
was initially just meant as a family record for my family.
But this
changed when my wife and I went to see a play put on in Kalamunda by the Albany
theatrical group Theatre 189 performance of The Lighthouse Girl written by
Albany author Dianne Wolfer.
We loved the
performance and as my great-grandparents Job and Alice had been keepers of that
lighthouse ten years earlier , I wrote to the producer and gave her the segment
of my story from the time Job and Alice were on Breaksea with the thought it
might help the actors understand more about what life was like on Breaksea.
Next I
received a message from Dianne Wolfer saying the segment had been passed on to
her and she wanted to talk to me about it. So we arranged a call.
In October 24
Dianne again wrote to say she had written a radio play for the Albany
Bicentenary based on my story of Job welcoming his bride to Albany by lighting
a bonfire as Alice’s ship passed Breaksea Island. She had called it “A Bonfire
for Alice” and she sent me a copy of it. Well, I loved the story and as I read
it to my wife I cried, which a 76 year old bloke does not often do, because all
of a sudden these two relatives whom I had known about all my life came to life
as real people in the way Dianne had told their story from that time.
A while later
in early 2025 Dianne presented at the Kalamunda Library a presentation on
writing historical fiction and I was hooked. I began “The Story of Job” with the
support of Sally Odgers as my editor and supporter.
What I have
loved about the historical fiction version is the ability to use my imagination
to fill in the gaps bring the characters to life and also find ways to make the
story believable as in so many lives life is stranger than fiction, Sally has
been a great help in understanding this process.
3. How did you go about researching the background for the book?
Much of the
factual backbone of The Story of Job came from stories passed down
through my family—particularly from my grandmother Eva and my father, Ean
McDonald. Over the years, I’d taken the time to document these family memories
and cross-reference them with records, creating a foundation of known facts
about Job's life, movements, and key events. I had been gathering this
information long before the idea of writing a novel had taken hold.
Once I made
the decision to shift from a family record to a historical fiction narrative,
everything changed. The framework of Job’s life was already there, but now I
began to immerse myself in the broader historical context surrounding him. I
researched the periods in which he lived—the maritime world of the late 1800s,
the development of ports like Albany and Fremantle, the settlement of inland WA
towns like Darkan, the social expectations of the era, and the changes brought
by Federation and war.
Wherever I
lacked specific details, I allowed myself to make plausible assumptions based
on what I knew of Job’s character—his stubbornness, his sense of duty, his love
of the sea, and the emotional complexity of the choices he made. Historical
fiction gave me the freedom to explore not only what happened, but what
Job might have thought or felt about what happened.
One example
was his experience sailing through the Suez Canal. I discovered that while the
canal had officially opened in 1869, it wasn’t widely used by commercial
traffic for several years. By the time Job sailed through it on his journey to
Australia, it had become a well-travelled route that significantly shortened
the voyage from England to the colonies. Knowing this helped me place Job
within the flow of changing global trade routes and maritime history—details
that might seem small, but they gave me confidence in shaping scenes with a
strong sense of authenticity.
I also delved
into period newspapers, shipping records, and historical accounts of
lighthouses, rail lines, mine disasters, and colonial townships. Every fact I
uncovered offered a new thread to weave into the tapestry of Job’s life, and
every gap gave me room to imagine.
Writing
historical fiction is a dance between what we know and what we believe might
have been true—and it was in that space that Job truly came to life for me.
4. How did you treat the inevitable gaps in the research?
One of the
greatest freedoms—and responsibilities—of writing historical fiction is
navigating the unknowns. While I had gathered many facts about Job's life from
family stories and historical records, there were still inevitable gaps:
missing years, unclear motivations, undocumented relationships. To bring the
story to life, I had to fill these spaces in a way that felt true to the
character and respectful to those involved.
Creating the
fictional characters of William and Eleanor was one way I bridged those gaps.
Through them, I was able to incorporate broader elements of history—such as the
end of convict transportation to Australia—while giving Job a companion and
confidant who could reflect and question along with him. These characters
became crucial to deepening the story’s emotional core and to grounding Job in
the era’s social and political changes.
I also wove
in real historical events to give structure and meaning to the timeline. For
instance, when Alice makes her journey to Australia, I tied it to the real-life
appointment of C.Y. O’Connor as Engineer-in-Chief of Western Australia. That
led to the fictional but plausible scenario of Alice travelling as a governess
to a prominent family connected to O'Connor’s vision for the colony. These
narrative choices helped anchor the fiction in real-world developments.
Some gaps
were more personal and delicate. The love story between Job and Alice, who was
nine years his senior, posed a unique challenge. It was unusual for the time,
yet the available evidence—letters, family stories, and their enduring
connection—suggested a bond that was genuine and deep. I had to imagine how
that relationship might have formed, and what inner struggles and social
pressures they might have faced.
Even more
difficult was writing about Job’s later relationship with Angie. The facts show
that she left her husband and four young sons to be with Job—a decision that,
through today’s lens, seems almost unfathomable. To protect her descendants’
privacy, I changed her name in the novel. But more importantly, I took great
care in creating a believable emotional journey that could explain such a
heartbreaking choice. I didn’t want to excuse it, but I did want to understand
it. What circumstances, griefs, or longings could lead a mother to leave her
family behind? Fiction allowed me to explore those questions with empathy.
In the end,
wherever there were gaps, I used imagination tempered by logic and heart. I
always asked: What choice feels true to this character, in this time, under
these conditions? If the answer felt honest, I followed it.
5. Are you planning a website for your book? If so, give us the url. If
not, where will your book be available?
At this
stage, I don’t have a dedicated website for The Story of Job, but given
the unexpected level of interest and demand in just the first few weeks since I
self-published, I may need to seriously consider creating one soon.
For now,
printed copies of the book are available directly through me for $20 each. The
Story of Job was self-published via IngramSpark, and in time it may also
become available through their wider distribution channels, including major
online booksellers.
The ISBN for
the book is 978-0-646-72145-3 for those wishing to locate it or request
it through libraries or retailers.
Thanks, Ric!
Authors and
readers—if you’d like an Author Sit-Down interview, either ask in the comments
or send me an email at sallybyname(A)gmail.com with AUTHOR SIT-DOWN in the
header.
