About to reveal her latest book, Bandiana author Karen Turner admits to being a little scared.
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"You worry," she said.
"I imagine it's like raising a child, you nurture it and nurture it and nurture it and you send it out.
"Once you send it out, you can't do anything about it.
"You hope you've done the best job you can."
Stormbird, due to be released by Fisher King Publishing on April 27, represents about five years of Turner's writing life and follows her previous books Torn (2013) and Inviolate (2014) and her short story collection All That and Everything, first published in 2009.
Originally intended to complete a trilogy, Stormbird has been reworked so it can stand alone as a historical romance or still be read as connected to Turner's earlier works.
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Set in Yorkshire in 1941, the book outlines an unexpected relationship that builds between a British war widow and a German fighter pilot in hiding, despite their countries' differences.
"People coming together, both having a need, having a loneliness, he's away from home, she's lost her husband," Turner said.
"It's relevant today as well, you know, these were just people ... remembering that people were just trying to live."
The choice of time and place was quite deliberate, being the year and location the author's mother was born.
"A lot of the anecdotal imagery and the pictures and the descriptions of Leeds and the villages, what was going on and what life was like was exactly as my mum described," Turner said.
"Growing up in the rubble of people's homes was like we'd go to the park, it was what they did.
"My grandmother drove an ambulance around Leeds during the bombing raids, and it was full-on, everybody pitched in and I've tried to involve that in the story."
She has been pleased by the early response to her manuscript, which was shortlisted in the Emerald Pro Awards run by Romance Writers of Australia.
As well as a Melbourne event, Stormbird will be launched at Wodonga Bowling Club on May 5 from 2pm, email info@karenturner.com.au to RSVP.
"Since moving up here, I've found an awful lot of support," Turner said.
"I love living up here and felt the need to give back."
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