The Good Mother with Rae Cairns

Rae Cairns is a former youth worker who has turned to a life of crime… writing. She is fascinated with how ordinary people manage when faced with extraordinary circumstances, and the lengths everyday characters will go when all they love is put at risk. She writes crime with heart; thriller and suspense novels featuring everyman (and woman) characters.

Her first novel, The Good Mother, was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Fiction in the 2021 NED KELLY awards. It draws on her background as a youth worker mentoring disadvantaged youth, many of them children of the paramilitaries, in Northern Ireland during the final years of ‘The Troubles’.

After completion of the first draft Rae’s manuscript was championed by novelist, screenwriter and director Mark Lamprell and then accepted into the Australian Writer’s Mentoring Program where she worked with award winning novelist Kathryn Heyman. Under Kathryn’s astute guidance Rae spent a year honing her craft and re-writing her novel.

Henry interviews Rae about her debut book, The Good Mother. 

This conversation was originally broadcast on 3SER's 97.7FM Casey Radio in August, 2021. It was produced by Rob Kelly.