A Logan author has released her first novel “meant to help welfare workers and the general population realise the ongoing effects of childhood trauma”.
76-year old author of ‘The Hunger,’ Mikki Cooke, says her memoir is “a tribute to those who give us shelter and believe in us until we can believe in ourselves”.
“I came from a background where there wasn’t any love or any safety,” Ms Cooke said.
“It’s like a formula for growing up and looking for those people that are going to be there for you.”
Ms Cooke says her childhood teacher taught her the impact of writing and remembers the first time she felt “words touch her”.
“On my first day of school, my teacher Mrs Smith, held my hand and took me to the blackboard and pointed to a phrase which read ‘from little acorns, mighty oak trees grow’.
“I can still remember the safety I felt when I put my hand in hers and something touched me, from those words I felt connected to the world and knew that I was going to be okay.
“So it’s a memoir and a tribute to all the ‘oak trees’ I’ve had in my life and still have.”
Ms Cooke says she began writing after her husband of 46 years died and she spent the next 13 years “owning her childhood”.
“When I came to Australia from England in 1974, I left the past behind and I never spoke to my children or anyone about my past.
“There was that space for me to either fall in a heap because John wasn’t there supporting me, or find myself.
“Writing has shown me who I am, inside-out, upside-down and backwards– I know all my faults and all my good parts,” she said.
Decades-long friend of Ms Cooke, Jan Woolmer says those years she spent writing were “fraught with heartache” and “further trauma” but she couldn’t be prouder of her friend and her accomplishment.
“How can someone who came from not just neglect and deprivation, but actual cruelty on a daily basis, turn out to be so nurturing?
“The standard of her language is amazingly high for a first time author.”
All proceeds from ‘The Hunger’ will be donated to the Smith Family to continue their work providing children in need with an education.
