Flames tale retold

ANN Fogarty’s story of Ash Wednesday and the months of recovery that followed would give anyone goose bumps.
It took 10 years of looking inside herself and dragging herself through difficult memories, but on the 30th anniversary of Ash Wednesday, Ann will launch her book, Forged with Flames.
It tells the incredible story of how she was hit with a fireball while protecting her daughters and the long road to recovery.
“I have been able to gather up all my old pain and suffering and maybe touch someone else’s life positively. It makes sense of my struggle,” Ann said.
“It isn’t a fairytale, the book has bought such meaning to me, and I think of someone struggling, perhaps in a different way than I have, picking up the book and thinking, ‘That has encouraged me and maybe I can go on’.”
The process of writing the book was difficult, and there were times she wanted to give up, but her eldest daughter Sarah always encouraged her.
“I realised a lot of the fire stuff was right down there, and I didn’t want to bring it here so I could actually write about it,” Ann said.
“I had to pick my days. I wrote it in a very higgledy-piggledy way, and I couldn’t write on a hot day about anything about fires, it was just too hard.”
After seven years of writing, with support and advice from Sarah, Ann passed the book onto a friend to type it out and she encouraged her to have it published.They received many knock-backs before coming across Wild Dingo Press, who wanted the ‘important Australian story’ told.
With another two and a half years and help of co-author Anne Crawford, the book will be launched in Narre Warren this weekend.
“It is bizarre that it is coming out on the 30th (anniversary),” Ann said.
“No one had this date in mind, because we thought it would be ready way before this, and now it is coming out on the 30th anniversary which is maybe just meant to be.”
Ann said it was both scary and liberating to put her experiences and inner-thoughts out into the public.
“It feels really scary, but I knew the only way to do it was to be really really honest about everything,” she said.
“People have looked at me and thought ‘she is managing so well and seems to have it all together’ but actually that is not how it has been on the inside.”
“In a way, it is quite liberating, this is the real me and once you have put it all out there, you have nothing to hide anymore.”