Ric McDonald

 

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.