Maree Giles

Welcome to my official website! Thank you for visiting.

From a young age I loved reading and writing stories. I grew up in Australia at the edge of the Garigal National Park, on Sydney’s breathtaking northern beaches. An area of incredible natural beauty, teeming with wildlife. In many ways it was an idyllic childhood. I had enormous freedom to explore the bush surrounding our home, to swim in the saltwater lagoon at our doorstep, and at some of the world’s best surfing beaches. When I wasn’t reading or helping my grandmother or mother, my playground was outside amongst nature. In those days the possibility of being a professional writer never crossed my mind. Authors were mysterious creatures who lived in a world I knew nothing about.

In my teens several things happened that changed the course of my life, and eventually led to me becoming a published author. It was a journey full of drama. It happened in the summer of 1970, when I was sixteen. As a result of “falling in love” with a boy three years older than me, I was committed to Parramatta Girls’ Home in Sydney, Australia’s most notorious home for girls under 18. A brutal, terrifying place run by unqualified ‘carers’ who ruled the home with sadistic fists. The contrast between life behind the high stone walls surrounding the home, and my life on the northern beaches, could not have been starker.

This story has since become important historically. It is very much an Australian story. My experience at Parramatta Girls' Home is one I could have done without. So it may sound strange to call it a gift. But it was. It kickstarted my writing career. But not immediately. After being discharged from PGH, I moved to New Zealand and studied journalism. In 1980 I moved to London. In 1997 I won the SHE, ARVON, Little,Brown Short Story prize for my story titled "Trouble."

And that is when my life changed dramatically . . .