109: Gina Wilkinson- Author of When the Apricots Bloom

Gina spoke to us from Australia only hours after a major earthquake shook her town, but she’s used to living in danger zones. In fact, her real-life experience of living in Baghdad at the time of Hussein’s toppling and discovering a good friend was an informant for the Iraqi government was the springboard for Gina’s debut which subsequently became a Target Book of the Month pick. Moving from her previous career as a foreign correspondent into novel writing offered challenges but proved to be the unique card Gina played during querying her novel which landed her an agent here in the States. We discuss an ethical question explored in her book -- what happens when good people are forced to make choices which go against their moral code? Gina Wilkinson has been a nomad from the age of six-months, when her parents packed their belongings into an old Renault and set off for a remote gold-mining town in Australia's Nullarbor desert. Since then, she’s circumnavigated the globe many times. As a foreign correspondent, she reported from some of the globe's most intriguing and dangerous places for renowned broadcasters such as the BBC, NPR, and the ABC, before trading in her reporter's notebook for an author's pen. After 20 years living and working overseas, including eight years in the United States, she returned to her homeland of Australia. She now lives in Melbourne with her Canadian-born husband, two sons, and a furless cat called Obiwan. To learn more about Gina, click here.