Olive Meets a Mermaid

Sally Odgers’ first book was written in three basic exercise books with a dying ballpoint pen. Most of the writing took place in the barn, out in the paddock – wherever she could find somewhere peaceful. The writing was illegible, so she taught herself to type. Her next effort, written when she was 12, was a collection of short stories, composed on a portable typewriter. Two unicorn fantasies and a half-finished cat fantasy followed. After producing something like 80 000 words, she wrote another collection of short stories during her final year at school. This was published in 1977.