Aussie author Di Morrissey has revealed the inspiration behind her latest novel.

Di Morrissey spent her childhood in Pittwater on the Northern Beaches and has not returned since her father and baby brother drowned.

The author told Deborah Knight despite the deaths, Pittwater holds so many memories and influences.

“There was that sense of community and the people that lived there were those sort of artistic writers and actors,” she said.

The Night Tide encapsulates the community spirit which reflects a tough period of her life.

The novel highlights the story of Dominic Cochrane after he decides it’s time to leave his twenty-year political staffer career behind. He opts to stay in a friend’s boatshed in a quiet Sydney backwater bay.

The long-time neighbours take Dom into their fold but his peaceful retreat is quickly upended as he becomes embroiled in a tragic mystery a family has never solved

“Community is what I wanted to write about.”

Press PLAY below to hear the full interview