Login
‘Matia’ and the transition from law to fiction writing
A dream to one day publish a novel followed Emily Tsokos Purtill throughout her legal career until she finally had a completed manuscript and the courage to transition into writing full time.
Naomi Neilson
Over the last 10 years, Tsokos Purtill continued to build on a legal career that saw her working in some of Australia’s biggest law firms, including Gilbert + Tobin and Herbert Smith Freehills. At the same time, Tsokos Purtill was writing her debut novel, Matia.
While law may not be a theme in Matia, Tsokos Purtill said the skills she learnt during her time in the profession were valuable in her new career, including in editing, writing with clarity, in reading her publishing contract, and speaking about her book.
Having now published the novel and transitioned out of the legal profession, Emily Tsokos Purtill told Lawyers Weekly that law never felt like a “true calling” because her desire was to always write fiction.
“I always wanted to be a writer and I was always one of those people who felt like I just needed the right time, or more time, to be able to write a novel. I’ve been working and always writing on the side, but I felt like it was just always something I wanted to do.
“Everyone is in such a different point of their lives when they decide to write, but I felt like if I didn’t try and pursue this, I would always regret it. It would [have been] a missed opportunity,” she said.
Matia is a beautifully written, intergenerational story that follows four Greek Australian women and explores what it means to be female in a culture that values tradition. Throughout the book, Tsokos Purtill seamlessly weaved between history to illustrate how these traditions have trickled down and been adapted to suit each woman’s life as they navigate new environments, social norms and relationships.
Despite the challenge of writing from multiple perspectives, Tsokos Purtill brought each woman to life with their own personalities and flaws in a way that made their stories all the more enjoyable. In the background of it all was the gripping mystery of the “dooming prophecies” and the superstition with the protective jewellery, matia.
Having come from a Greek Australian family herself, Tsokos Purtill shared she has always been really interested in stories of women and has thought “about how your life can be so different from the women who came before you and the women who come after you”.
The story explores the Greek Australian heritage in very compelling ways, including how each of the women places value on their matia, and through to the characters’ interactions with food. Tsokos Purtill said with the latter, she wanted to show that “even when language dies out, people will still be very connected over time with food”.
While none of the four main characters are based on Tsokos Purtill or her family, she said they were each still “very real to me”, and it was important they all were “very, very different in a lot of ways”.
“I really tried to highlight the aspects of their personalities and their characters that kind of carries through and shows the difference between the generations and what was important to the family. It changes with each generation,” Tsokos Purtill explained.
Tsokos Purtill said while the story may focus on these four Greek Australian characters, her novel is primarily about women.
“I feel there is still so much scope for understanding the stories of women and what it means to be female. This is something that has been very difficult in the law, both working as a lawyer, and in how the law treats women. We’ve come so far, but I just don’t think we’re there yet.
“I really hope the book does resonate with different people,” she said.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
