Not Ash by Linda Collins

The loss of her home in an earthquake then the loss of her daughter - for New Zealander Linda Collins, one loss shook her physical foundations; the other shook her very being.

Told by Denise O'Connell

Photo: From original by Malcolm McLeod

Photo: Linda Collins

Linda Collins has a BA in English from Massey University and is a copyeditor on the political desk of The Straits Times in Singapore, where her much-loved daughter, Victoria, took her life four years ago aged 17.  Linda, husband Malcolm McLeod and Victoria were living in Singapore when the 2011 earthquake struck Christchurch, wrecking the house they owned there. Amid insurer and builder delays, the replacement house was only finally completed three years after Victoria’s death.  Linda’s memoir, Loss Adjustment, is her first foray into writing a book, although she is copyeditor of the Lee Kuan Yew international best-seller, Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, and used to write for The Expat Files column in Singapore’s Sunday Times.  Earlier this year, she was shortlisted for publisher Hachette’s mentorship programme, based on the submission of her Not Ash chapter from Loss Adjustment. Poetry is a new passion, meanwhile, and she is studying it at La Salle College of the Arts, Singapore. The photo is from her work pass.