Along with many other expats living in Nepal at the time, Nicki was deeply affected by the horror-stories coming from the civil war (13 Feb 1996 – 21 Nov 2006). The local media painted frightening pictures, and incident reports coming from both national and international organisations presented stark and often appalling updates on the atrocities committed by both sides.  Nicki wanted to bring to life the reports, facts, and statistics about the casualties of war, the endemic discrimination, the grinding poverty. 

Nicki became determined to write a novel that gave a voice to those who had suffered, and moved back to Australia in December 2011 to focus on her writing (with regular visits back to Nepal each year). As soon as Nicki embarked on her writing journey she discovered her true passion, and the single novel she’d intended to write evolved into a number of manuscripts detailing lives impacted by poverty, discrimination, alcohol and drug abuse, civil war atrocities, corruption, sex trafficking and homelessness – all based on real stories, real lives.