Deb Hunt-ing for Love and Non-Fictional Flying
Paula Xiberras
In Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ his heroine Beatrice says:
‘You have stayed me in a happy hour I was about to protest I loved you and I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest’.
Deb hunt once played Beatrice in her ‘Shakespeare in the Park’ days when she lived in the UK. Deb also played many other Shakespearean heroines, such as Nerissa in ‘Merchant of Venice’ and Portia in ‘Julius Caesar’ before becoming her very own heroine in her own romance. As well as Shakespearean actor Deb has also forged careers as an events manager and as an English language teacher in Spain.
In addition to her busy and diverse work life Deb was hunting for a fantasy love for so long that when real love finally found her she did protest it, but like Beatrice came to realise her heart had nothing else to protest. For Deb it was a happy ending after pursuing an ideal notion of romance she instead was pursued by an ideal man, who won her by persistence.
Some time ago I called the wonderful Deb at her home but was greeted by her charming partner, the ‘love’ in her novel ‘Love in the Outback’. I had missed Deb because, as she later told me, she was on her way to another appointment and was relaxing on a park bench with her morning cup of coffee when she was hit on the head with a football, completely unruffled she tells me the primary school children were very apologetic. This incident demonstrates Deb’s demeanour, unfazed by such hiccups and her adaptability, the major one being her settling on the other side of the world and in a demanding job with The Flying Doctors but she was inspired by people she met during her work, who had to overcome so much more such as natural disasters to rebuild their lives.
As part of working for The Flying Doctors Deb visited Tasmania and tells me she loves it here, intrigued by MONA, and most recently visiting Tassie to interview a lady farmer in the Meander Valley for a new book on Australian farmers.
Deb’s own book came about by chance when she was pitching a biography she was writing about someone else but after meeting with publishers was encouraged instead to write her own book because it was thought her story would resonate with readers.
Deb once called herself a ‘sinister stalking spinster’, a nod to her pursuit of unrequited love. Deb puts this down to growing up on fairy tales that promised happy ever after and being encouraged to continue to pursue the fairy-tale. Disenchanted with enchantment Deb decided to take up a job opportunity in Australia with The Flying Doctors. Metaphorically the job did some ‘doctoring’ on Deb, she healed and it gave her wings to fly both literally and metaphorically! The subsequent finding of love and relenting to it was the best decision she ever made and now she feels’ happy, settled and blessed’.
A resurgence has overtaken Deb with many ideas for future books including a children’s one that she started many years ago and would like to revisit are burgeoning. There is also a desire to do a master’s degree in creative writing and make a return to journalism.
Now she and her partner are retired from their Flying Doctors work, Deb is a full time writer and there is time to take that trip to Jervis Bay with her partner and their beloved dog Maggie..
Deb’s book ‘love in the Outback’ is out now published by Pan Macmillan.