The thriller and contemporary love story, Beneath the Mother Tree, is told from the perspective of four characters.

“It was so much fun writing it,” she said.

“It was the most exciting time I’ve ever had in my life and I so want to write another one.”

The author talks are at Port Macquarie Library on August 9 from 2pm and Kempsey Library on August 10 from 11am.

Cameron is sold on the immersive nature of novel writing.

A memory from the coastal town of Red Rock became a powerful inspiration for the book.

Cameron remembers feeling an incredible sense of melancholy when looking at the crashing waves and the white foam swirling over and between the red of the rock there.

She followed a path and came across a plaque in memory of the victims and survivors of the blood rock massacres.

“I was so shocked by the fact that I had sensed the tragedy in the landscape before knowing about it that, over the years, I found myself haunted by this memory,” Cameron said.

Beneath the Mother Tree is set in the Quandamooka area.

The Quandamooka Nation consists of the waters and islands of central and southern Moreton Bay and the coastal land and streams between the Brisbane and Logan Rivers.

Even though her book would contain peripheral Aboriginal characters who were only ever seen through the gaze of the non-Indigenous characters, Cameron felt the need to work with respected Ngugi elder Uncle Bob Anderson on all Indigenous content.

Uncle Bob was the first to make her aware of the violence and massacres in the Quandamooka area.

“Here I was, now in my 40s, hearing these stories for the first time,” Cameron said.

“Suddenly I saw this place, my heart country, through the eyes of the local mob.

“There was heartbreak and violence scattered throughout the land, occurrences similar to what had taken place at Red Rock. Unlike at Red Rock, however, these stories aren’t officially documented, there is no plaque on any of the massacre sites.”

The more she sat and yarned with Uncle Bob and the more she researched, the more she started to see the landscape she had known most of her life in an entirely different way.

As the world of her book formed in her head, Cameron found the red ochre of Quandamooka merged with the red rock of the Gumbaingirr people’s massacre site.

Cameron realised all over Australia there were death spots yet to be uncovered, yet to be written about. 

Out of all of this came a spine-chilling mystery and contemporary love story played out in a unique and wild setting, interweaving Indigenous history and Irish mythology.

Call 6581 8755 to book your place at the Port Macquarie author talk or 6566 3210 to secure your spot at the Kempsey author talk.

Go to DM Cameron’s website for more information.