Theresa Smith's Blog, page 143

Saturday Spotlight with Fiona Lowe – Australian Women Writers Challenge Blog

A continuation of my conversation with Fiona Lowe over on the Australian Women Writers Challenge blog.

Today we give a warm Saturday Spotlight welcome to Fiona Lowe. This week Fiona published her 30th novel, Birthright. When did you start writing and what was the catalyst? I started writing in 1995 after the birth of my first child. I was avoiding returning to full time work and I was deluded…

via Saturday Spotlight with Fiona Lowe — Australian Women Writers Challenge Blog

Saturday Spotlight with Fiona Lowe

A continuation of my conversation with Fiona Lowe over on the Australian Women Writers Challenge blog.

Today we give a warm Saturday Spotlight welcome to Fiona Lowe. This week Fiona published her 30th novel, Birthright. When did you start writing and what was the catalyst? I started writing in 1995 after the birth of my first child. I was avoiding returning to full time work and I was deluded…

via Saturday Spotlight with Fiona Lowe — Australian Women Writers Challenge Blog

Behind the Pen with Fiona Lowe

Today I am delighted to welcome Fiona Lowe to Behind the Pen, here to talk about reading, writing, and the publication of her 30th novel.

 

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What inspired your most recent book?

Like all my novels, it is always a series of ideas that come together. I’m part of the sandwich generation so I wanted to write a character going through the balancing act of ageing parents and teenage children. I also wanted to explore a family’s behaviour around a large inheritance. This meant writing about elder abuse and adult sibling rivalry. Oh, and I threw in a midlife crisis as well, because, why not!

 

How much research do you do? As an author of contemporary fiction, how do you balance the demands of getting the facts right and telling a good story?

I am a bit addicted to research so I discipline myself to stop otherwise the book would never get written. Both Birthright and Daughter of Mine have scenes set in the 1960’s and 1970’s, as well as the present day. Often an hour of research results in one line but it’s important to have details correct or it rips the reader out of the story. I read a book recently that referenced Bangladesh in 1951, but it wasn’t called by that name until 1971 and it really distracted me.

 

What authors and types of books do you love the most?

I am a very eclectic reader and I pick up all sorts of books from literary to genre, although I avoid horror and I don’t do so well with suspense as I get palpitations. I enjoy contemporary character-driven stories, especially about people dealing with life’s big issues.

 

What is your favourite childhood book? Did reading as a child have any bearing on your decision to become a writer?

You’ll only let me name one? I’m guessing by childhood you mean 12 and under? Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maude Montgomery and the entire series. I think I’ve re-read all those books at least five times.

 

Have you ever had to deal with a situation where someone feels they recognise traits of themselves in one of your characters?

Just about everyone in my family reckons bits and pieces of them have appeared in all my books! In Daughter of Mine, I created a town in the Western District. I’ve had people argue with me, telling me it must be Hamilton, or it’s totally Camperdown but in fact it is a compilation of three towns. I’ve done the same thing in Birthright.

 

Can you tell us something about yourself that not many people would know?

I once learned to tap dance when I was in an amateur production of the play, Dinkum Assorted.

 

If you could go back in time for a year, which historical era would you choose to live in?

I adore Art Deco architecture so I guess the 1920s & 30’s.

Birthright

 

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Is an inheritance a privilege or a right?

Does it show love? Margaret, the matriarch of the wealthy Jamieson family, has always been as tight-fisted with the family money as she is with her affection. Her eldest daughter, Sarah, is successful in her own right as a wife, mother and part owner of a gourmet food empire. But it’s not enough to impress her mother. Always in the shadow cast by the golden glow of her younger brother, Sarah feels compelled to meet Margaret’s every demand to earn her love.

Does it give security? After a poverty-stricken childhood, Anita has claimed the social status she’s worked so hard to achieve by marrying Cameron Jamieson. Although they have a comfortable life, she’s never able to fully relax, fearing everything can change in a heartbeat.

Or does it mean freedom? Ellie, the youngest, has lived a nomadic and — according to her siblings — a selfish life, leaving them to care for their ageing mother. For her, freedom means staying far away from the strings attached to her inheritance, but she needs to consider her young son’s future as well.

As their mother’s health deteriorates, will long-held secrets and childhood rivalries smash this family into pieces?

An addictive and page-turning story of the relationships between siblings, and of deceit, betrayal and revenge.

About Fiona:

Fiona Lowe has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. A recipient of the prestigious USA RITA® award and the Australian RuBY award, Fiona’s books are set in small country towns and feature real people facing tough choices and explore how family ties impact on their decisions.

When she’s not writing stories, she’s a distracted wife, mother of two ‘ginger’ sons, a volunteer in her community, guardian of 80 rose bushes, slave to a cat and is often found collapsed on the couch with wine. You can find her at her website, Facebook, Twitter @FionaLowe, Instagram and Goodreads. Birthright (HQ Fiction) is her current release.

 

New Release Book Review: Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig

Miss Burma…
About the Book:

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Burma from the 1940s to the 1960s, Miss Burma is a powerful and epic novel that follows one prominent Burmese family struggling to overcome war and political repression while trying to build a meaningful life.

Miss Burma tells the story of modern-day Burma through the eyes of Benny and Khin, husband and wife, and their daughter Louisa. After attending school in Calcutta, Benny settles in Rangoon, then part of the British Empire, and falls in love with Khin, a woman who is part of a long-persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen. World War II comes to Southeast Asia, and Benny and Khin must go into hiding in the eastern part of the country during the Japanese Occupation, beginning a journey that will lead them to change the country’s history. After the war, the British authorities make a deal with the Burman nationalists, led by Aung San, whose party gains control of the country. When Aung San is assassinated, his successor ignores the pleas for self-government of the Karen people and other ethnic groups, and in doing so sets off what will become the longest-running civil war in recorded history. Benny and Khin’s eldest child, Louisa, has a danger-filled, tempestuous childhood and reaches prominence as Burma’s first beauty queen soon before the country falls to dictatorship. As Louisa navigates her newfound fame, she is forced to reckon with her family’s past, the West’s ongoing covert dealings in her country, and her own loyalty to the cause of the Karen people.

Based on the story of the author’s mother and grandparents, Miss Burma is a captivating portrait of how modern Burma came to be and of the ordinary people swept up in the struggle for self-determination and freedom.

 

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My Thoughts:

Historical fiction grounded in fact is my favourite type of novel to read. They’re also the one’s that take me the longest to read, mostly on account of how much I linger over the events within, contemplating the very realness of what I’m reading and analysing it in terms of the world we live in today. Miss Burma is one such novel, a truly mesmerising and terribly beautiful account of a history I have until now not been aware of. Burma is a country I know of in only the briefest of terms, within the context of the Burma railway that Australian prisoners of war were forced to build during WWII, but that’s it. That is quite honestly the extent of my knowledge. Miss Burma offers readers the opportunity to learn quite a bit about this troubled nation, from its days as a British colony through to its tumultuous grapple for independence post WWII and through to the mid 1960s. It’s a political war story that orbits around love, honour and identity; a modern masterpiece in my opinion.

 

Authenticity to this novel is enhanced by the fact that the author’s own family history forms the basis of the narrative. The main characters are her own grandparents, her mother and uncle and aunts. It’s almost like a memoir in terms of this personalisation, but it most definitely reads like a novel; an extremely articulate and intelligent novel. The prose is exquisite, the story unfolding rapidly, with a multitude of detail, yet never bogging down or over complicating matters. There is so much history within the pages of this novel, heartbreaking history of a nation besieged by civil war, genocide, and betrayal on an international scale. It’s unflinchingly honest, quite difficult to read at times because of this, but truth, in essence, is often difficult, so I appreciated the frankness, the lack of sugar coating, the bare bones honesty of this novel immensely.

 

Benny and Khin are an interesting dynamic. Their marriage is inter-racial, and this in itself presents challenges that at times seem insurmountable. Khin is a part of a long persecuted ethnic minority group, the Karen, while Benny is a Jewish Indian born in Burma. We see Khin drawn to other Karen men throughout the novel, and it was intriguing for me to dwell on this as I found myself not considering it within the normal parameters of adultery. Certainly, the ethnic barrier between husband and wife played a role in this, but also the conditions of life, the never ending war and separation they endured. And then there was Benny himself, who to be perfectly honest, I didn’t always like. I certainly had a great deal of empathy for him and what he continually was forced to endure, but I never really liked him. So my sympathies lay with Khin and her perspective was portrayed well enough to enhance this.

With Saw Lay she had escaped not just her fear for Benny’s life, but also all the agitation that came with loving a man with whom she had never easily been able to speak in her first language, and to whom her Karen tendencies too often had to be explained. She had not known how very Karen she was until there was Benny – boisterous, belligerent Benny, who bigheartedly trampled all over her preferences for gentleness and humility and silent attunement to others. And she had not known how isolated she had felt with him until there was Saw Lay.

Khin is not a woman who wears her failings lightly. She punishes herself on so many levels throughout the course of her life, and it was so difficult at times to bear witness to her suffering. On the matter of her adultery though, in the end, the words of a Rabbi, spoken to her when she was at the beginning of her marriage, become a balm to counter her self-flagellation:

We must find a way to rejoice in our circumstances. We must find a way to do more than endure.

I really do love this pearl of wisdom. Words to live by.

 

Now, the title of the novel, Miss Burma, refers to Louisa, Benny and Khin’s daughter. Louisa very much played the part of the sacrificial lamb within her family. The whole notion of her running for Miss Burma came out of a passive aggressive encounter between Benny and Khin at a dinner party. Khin had already previously used Louisa’s poise and beauty in an earlier pageant to secure her husband’s release from prison, so essentially, the bonfire was already laid out, it just needed a match to set it all aflame. Louisa, as a dutiful daughter, went along with it all, despite great detriment to her spiritual self and her reputation. She talks of becoming a great pretender and no longer knowing who her real self is anymore. This was so sad to contemplate in someone so young. Louisa winning Miss Burma, not once but twice, consecutively, was entirely political. Reflections in hindsight by her father highlight the extent of this:

He’d wanted, with this Miss Burma business, to have something to write about – or so he’d claimed; but it turned out he’d only given the Burmans an angle. Or, no, a weapon. A weapon of Burmanisation. A weapon against revolution. For if Louisa, as the racially indistinct product of assimilation, was already a symbol of a “higher form of unity,” as Aung San had once put it (one might serve “national tasks and objectives”), then her winning the pageant would be an argument that racism in the country didn’t exist, and there was no discrimination to fight against.

 

Louisa was my favourite from this novel. She emerges from her childhood as a woman with incredible strength. She sheds her beauty queen persona and marries a General of the Karen Revolutionary Council in 1963. Theirs is a genuine love story and his regard for Louisa as a trustworthy partner is all encompassing. But Louisa has strong revolutionary inclinations of her own and I loved watching these strengthen within her until she reached a point where she could no longer deny them.

She’d never dared pursue such a radical thought- how could she, given Daddy’s part in the Karen Union’s solidification? But hadn’t the university massacre taught her that if ethnic hatred had fashioned the nation’s history, its new dictator was making the country over with an even broader, blinder, indiscriminate hate? Burman students had also died in the massacre. And if the nation was to heal, if the nation was to do away with both the hater and the hated, the nation’s peoples must do so together. Undeniably, ethnic minorities had suffered and were still suffering more than any Burmans: rape, beheadings, dismemberments, slavery, not to mention chronic humiliation, chronic displacement, a chronic sense of inferiority – non-Burmans had suffered for ages just because of Burman supremacy. But Burmans were also victims of Ne Win’s military dictatorship; they, too, had grown up – perhaps enough to recognise that they were no more deserving of protection and justice.

All throughout this novel, I was aware of the pressing truth of it, the glaring fact that Charmaine Craig was telling her family’s story, with literary license of course, but still, this all happened. Louisa is Charmaine’s mother and this in itself is rather incredible, to have such a family legacy to draw from creatively. The weight of it is so important though and I can understand why Charmaine has written this as a novel rather than a memoir. The achievement lies in the detail and scope. I am interested now to find out more about Burma and it’s history since the 1960s.

 

The writing within Miss Burma is superb. Even the terrible is articulated with some measure of beauty at the mercy of Charmaine’s hand. This is literary fiction at its finest and most accessible, because I never, for a single second while reading this novel, felt as though I wasn’t able to appreciate it. I will definitely be making a point of seeking out Charmaine’s previous novel, The Good Men, because I love her style, the visual narration and tight dialogue. So much unsaid, yet conveyed with clarity. Emotions laid bare without fanfare and dramatics. This is a novel that will become a timeless classic, a contender for big literary prizes. I am so impressed with Miss Burma and utterly bereft that I have finished it. I want to know more. What happens next? The ending is in many ways all encompassing and yet we are still left dangling on a precipice, with so much more still to come.

 

Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of Miss Burma for review.

 

About the Author:

[image error]Charmaine Craig is a faculty member in the Department of Creative Writing at UC Riverside, and the descendant of significant figures in Burma’s modern history. A former actor in film and television, she studied literature at Harvard University and received her MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Her first novel, The Good Men, was a national bestseller in the US and was translated into six languages.

Behind the Pen with Robert Lukins

I am so pleased to welcome Robert Lukins to Behind the Pen today.  Robert’s debut novel, The Everlasting Sunday, is released on February 26th by University of Queensland Press and is available in both paperback and ebook from all book retailers.

 

 

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When did you start writing and what was the catalyst?

I’ve wanted to write books for as long as I can remember. I would make stories on my brother’s typewriter when I was 7 or 8 and have my father take them in to his office to use their binding machine. I never stopped writing. My brother and sister both had their first jobs at the local council library and I spent my afternoons there, waiting for their shifts to finish so we could be taken home. I explored every last inch of that place. I don’t know where the initial desire to write came from but those years of drifting the aisles cemented my idea of a life among books. When the time came, my first job was at the library too.

 

Are you balancing a different career with your writing? How do go about making time for your writing within limited hours?

I worked as a freelance arts writer for a long time but over the last five years have been working a non-writing desk job. I found both as difficult as each other to balance with my personal writing. I write most days: in the morning, at lunch break, at night, around the fulltime job. My friendships suffer. My hair’s falling out. No-one mows the lawn. It’s exhausting and it stops me from writing as much and as well as I could. My writing career fantasy is to have one day a week that is financed by my fiction writing and to which I can devote entirely to writing. One day, perhaps.

 

What inspired your most recent novel?

15 years ago I found myself living in a small border village in Shropshire, England. The post office had a sign in its window saying ‘POSTMAN NEEDED’, so I became a postman. They gave me a Royal Mail pushbike, a balaclava, and a 3am start time. I would bumble along the cobbled streets in the pitch dark of that freezing January, ice forming in my eyebrows. My final delivery each day was to a decrepit manor house set alone a few miles out of town, up through the empty snow fields. It had been abandoned for many years but the junk mail kept coming. The great buildings were crumbling and overgrown. It was a beautiful and frightening place and the memory of that house persisted and all these years later it has reimagined itself as the setting for my debut novel.

 

 

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What did you do when you finished this novel?

There was no great moment when I knew that the book was finished. Throughout the long editing process I would have almost daily contact with my editor, making major and minor changes. Until the end, word choices would be mulled over, fonts confirmed, dinkuses realigned. In one of these regular emails from my editor it was mentioned that the thing had been sent to the printers, and that was that. I think I went to the 7-11 and bought a $1 coffee and a plain donut.

 

How much planning do you do? Do you plan/plot the entire story from beginning to end, or let it evolve naturally as the writing progresses? In terms of characters, are they already a firm picture in your mind before you start writing or do they develop a personality of their own as the story progresses?

For this novel I had none of the story planned before I began writing. Instead I had a completely formed idea of the setting, the atmosphere, the place. It was all about recreating the ambiguous feeling I would experience when alone at the house that inspired the story. I had such a strong sense of the world in which this story would live in that the characters and story grew immediately and easily within it once I put finger to keyboard. The characters where inspired in part by reading I had done on real homes for ‘troubled youths’ that had been set up in rural England in the mid twentieth century, but once I began to write they formed themselves into entirely fictional creatures. I don’t know where they came from but I have my suspicions.

 

Where do you normally write? Is it in the same place every day or are you an all over the place writer?

I don’t have a writing desk. If I can help it I don’t write in the same place twice. I’m not inspired by my surroundings and prefer neutral, functional spaces not in my home. I write on trams, in chain cafes, libraries, university buildings, public spaces. I write better when I’m not settled, so it helps me to head out with my laptop and find any old place to work. It’s amazing the places you can walk into and quietly go about writing. I’m very rarely asked to leave.

 

 

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What is your favourite childhood book? Did reading as a child have any bearing on your decision to become a writer?

No question, it was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾. That book had such an unmistakeable impact on the adult I became. I read my brother’s copy when I was 8 and didn’t realise for some time that Adrian’s pretentions were supposed to be funny. I found the book’s situations deeply funny but thought Adrian was an inspiring intellectual. I read the book on a near endless rotation and basically became Adrian Mole through my teenage years, and borrowed from him the unshakeable conviction that if I simply keep on writing then one day I will be ‘discovered’. A terrible situation, but there it is. After a while I realised that Adrian was supposed to be read as a loveable fool but by then the damage was done and Adrian and I walk hand in hand down life’s footpath forever more.

 

What book is currently on your bedside table?

I tend to have three books on the go at once: some mix of fiction, poetry, art, science, history, so I can switch between them without muddying my memory. Today the three are: ‘The Glimpses of the Moon’ by Edith Wharton (gorgeous), ‘Breakfast with Lucian’ by Geordie Grieg (ridiculous, sad and much fun), and ‘The Making of the Atomic Bomb’ by Richard Rhodes (terrifically thorough).

 

Is there any one particular season on the year that you find more creatively inspirational than the others?

I’m not well made for summer. I burn, sweat, and tire very easily, but I can’t deny that I’m more productive in the warmer weather. I appreciate winter far more aesthetically and connect with its romance, but I get down in the cold months and that slows my writing.

 

How has being Australian impacted on your writing and/or writing career?

All my family, brother and sister included, were born in Great Britain. I was born in Australia but lived my early years with the long cultural shadow of Wales and England over me. I have written with a predominantly Australian setting for most of my unpublished novels, so it interests me that The Everlasting Sunday is my first shift from the Australian setting to a British one. I have lived in Australia, Great Britain, and parts Europe and feel equally not-quite-at-home in all of them. If everything goes wrong I’m going to move to Myanmar and set up a moped hire shack at the beach.

 

 

Order your copy of The Everlasting Sunday here

View the book trailer here

 

 

 

 

Sunday Spotlight with Sophie Laguna

Recently longlisted for The Stella Prize, Sofie Laguna’s The Choke is a brilliant, haunting novel about a child navigating an often dark and uncaring world of male power and violence, in which grown-ups can’t be trusted and comfort can only be found in nature. I read The Choke prior to its release last year and was…

via Sunday Spotlight with Sofie Laguna — Australian Women Writers Challenge Blog

Bingo! Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part-time Husband by Barbara Toner

It’s bingo Saturday once again – that rolled around fast! The square I’ve filled for this entry is:

A funny book 

The book in question is Four Respectable Ladies Seek Part-time Husband by Barbara Toner.

 

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I enjoyed this novel so much and for the majority of it, was either laughing out loud or stifling laughter, depending upon the time of day and location in which I was reading. You can read my review of it here if you didn’t catch it the first time around.

I originally intended on reading specifically for bingo, as I did with my first entry, but of late I seem to be chasing my reading commitments and only just meeting them, never getting ahead. We’ll see how I go, but really, it’s just as much fun for me to look back on my recent reads and see what I can fit into a category in hindsight. Who knows, maybe in the end that’s the type of bingo that suits me best. There are a couple of areas in my life where I eschew planning. Reading is one of them. Cooking is the other. I like the creativity of winging it in these areas of my life, because in all other areas, I am quite a meticulous planner.

This year I’m playing book bingo with Mrs B’s Book Reviews. On the first and third Saturday of each month, we’ll post our latest entry. We’re not telling each other in advance what we’re currently reading or what square we’ll be filling next; any coincidences are exactly that – and just add to the fun!

Follow our card below if you’d like to join in, and please let us know if you do so we can check out what you’re reading.

Now I’m off to check out what square Mrs B has marked off for this round. See you over there!

 

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My Reading Life: February Reviews to Come

February has brought some pretty fantastic books to my door. It might be a little quiet here on the review front for the next week, but once the end of the month begins to approach, I’ll have some new release reviews for you on the following sensational titles.

[image error] Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig

Set against the vibrant backdrop of Burma from the 1940s to the 1960s, Miss Burma is a powerful and epic novel that follows one prominent Burmese family struggling to overcome war and political repression while trying to build a meaningful life.

Published by Allen & Unwin

 

 

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The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht

The Passengers is a luminous novel about love: the journeys we undertake, the sacrifices we make and the heartache we suffer for love It is about how we most long for what we have left behind. And it is about the past – how close it can still feel – even after long passages of time.

Published by Allen & Unwin

 

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The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch.

A riveting tale of destruction and love found in the direst of places, Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Book of Joan raises questions about what it means to be human, the fluidity of sex and gender, and the role of art as a means for survival. It’s a genre-defying masterpiece that may very well rewire your brain.

Published by Allen & Unwin

 

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In the Garden of the Fugitives by Ceridwen Dovey

Addictive and unsettling, In the Garden of the Fugitives is a masterpiece of duplicity and counterplay, as brilliantly illuminating as it is surprising – about the obscure workings of guilt in the human psyche, the compulsion to create, and the dangerous morphing of desire into control. It is the breakthrough work of one of Australia’s most exciting emerging writers.

Published by Penguin Random House Australia

 

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The Cowgirl by Anthea Hodgson

The new novel from the acclaimed author of The Drifter.

Published by Penguin Random House Australia

 

 

 

 

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The Lucky Galah by Tracy Sorensen

A magnificent novel about fate, Australia and what it means to be human… it just happens to be narrated by a galah called Lucky.

Published by Pan Macmillan Australia

 

 

 

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The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth

Do you ever really know your neighbours?

Published by Pan Macmillan Australia

 

 

 

 

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The Everlasting Sunday by Robert Lukins

A haunting debut novel about growing up, growing wild and what it takes to survive

Published by UQP

 

 

 

All of these titles are available for pre-order.

Behind the Pen with Beatrice Fishback

Today I warmly welcome USA author Beatrice Fishback to Behind the Pen, here to share with us a few of her favourites. Over to you Beatrice…

 

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What is your favourite…and why…

 

Character from one of your books?

My favorite character has to be Dotty Weathervane in the cozy mystery, Dying to Eat at the Pub.

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Dotty Weathervane, a woman in midlife, is gregarious, out-spoken and a true snoop. Think Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. Dotty loves large, colorful handbags and Paul Simon. In her heart of hearts, she wants to write a romance novel but can’t get past being interested in everyone else’s business to take the time and sit down to compose a sentence. She has wild, snow-white hair that she can’t control and a waistline that grows inches every year. I love Dotty Weathervane, although she’s a gossiper she is actually a good friend to those that know and love her. In fact, I think Dotty and I would have a wonderful friendship should we spend more time together as she loves scarves and handbags as much as I do.

 

Scene from one of your books?

A short scene from Dying to Eat at the Pub that I chose is when Dotty realizes her life might end at the hand of a murderer and she is concerned for her husband Jim. She thinks more about him than her situation, which shows how deeply Dotty loves Jim regardless of how much they might bicker about the mundane.

“I wasn’t sure whether to be upset with Jim or worried for him when he realized I was gone. When he was taken to the hospital I was beside myself with anxiety. I knew he would be dealing with the same feelings about me—maybe more. How many times had he told me, ‘I just worry about you, Dot. That’s all.’ If only he knew how much he should be worrying about me right now, he would have plenty to keep him busy.”

 

Movie of all time?

“Miss Potter” with Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor.

 

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“Miss Potter” totes itself as “a beautiful and enchanting movie” and lives up to that description. I also find it charming and delightful. I’m not much of a ‘chick-flick’ fan so the fact that I have seen this several times—and suggested it to many friends—says a lot about how it can appeal to even non-chick type viewers. Beatrix Potter’s story with her character Peter Rabbit, as told through this movie, inspires me to want to write with the same creativity. The fact that my name is Beatrice might also explain the appeal.

 

Book that you always keep a copy of and recommend to others?

I have several books by Max Lucado on my library shelf that I would recommend since he is my favorite non-fiction author, although Philip Yancy comes in a close second.

 

Fashion accessory that despite having plenty of, you still keep collecting?

Scarves. Instead of jewelry, I think using a scarf to compliment any outfit is a cheaper option. At least that’s my reasoning when I purchase, yet again, just one more. I convince myself even before I step out the door and head to a shop that if I find the perfect one, and I usually do, it will certainly go with something I have in my closet. That logic works for me anyway. Feel free to use it.

 

 

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Drink that you enjoy everyday?

I usually drink two cups of coffee each morning before I can function. My taste buds crave a caramel macchiato, but alas, I only use cream in my java. If the weather is cold, a hot cup of tea follows mid-morning. However, in North Carolina where I live, tea is generally served over ice to deal with the hot, humid temperatures, which are extremely unpleasant.

 

 

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Treat you indulge in?

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone…but I love chocolate. In any shape and size but particularly the dark variety. And if I can’t find any in the house, I will make a midnight run to the supermarket, buy it and put it under my bed pillow to keep it well hidden from others. Of course, it usually doesn’t last long enough to make it back home. Then I repeat the same scenario whenever the crave hits again. I don’t think anyone knows my little secret, do you?

 

 

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Place to be?

England. In the summer. When days are long and cool. It’s my favorite spot to run to during the hot, sticky days in the south of the U.S.A. However, my bucket list has had Australia on it for quite some time. One of these days, I will hop on a plane and fulfill that dream, and visit a dear friend who lives there.

 

 

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Person you admire?

Wow. How do you limit this list to one? I admire my mother, who is no longer living, but she demonstrated commitment and respect in a marriage that was often difficult. She also shared her deep faith with her seven children and I grew up to believe in God because she modeled the importance of belief. My mother was a nurse and loved the profession of helping and serving others. In fact, her dream was to become a doctor but that never materialized. She taught me that you can become anything you set your mind to. She was an inspiration and amazing example in my life and I’ll be forever grateful for that.

 

Season of the year?

It has to be spring. I love the fresh air, flowers popping with expectations of new days ahead. People come out of their homes where they’ve been hibernating during winter months. It’s as if everyone and everything is waking up from a long night sleep. The crispness of colors of grass, tree buds and blossoms. They all stir new beginnings in my imagination of things to write. Somehow I just don’t have the same ambition to put prose to paper in the gloom of dark, wintry days.

 

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New Release Book Review: Sign by Colin Dray

Sign…
About the Book:

Sometimes even the best intentions can lead you down a very dangerous road.

Sam is a young boy recovering from an operation that has left him unable to speak ever again. He lives with his mother and sister Katie, all dutifully cared for by Aunt Dettie, their father’s sister, who believes herself sympathetic to his pain.

Their father abandoned the family some time ago, but when their mother begins to date again, Aunt Dettie reacts very badly.

After an unexpected phone call, Aunt Dettie packs Sam and Katie into the backseat of her car and tells them that she’s taking them to Perth to be reunited with their father.

As Dettie drives the children across Australia in the middle of a sweltering and dangerous bushfire season, her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, and the children begin to realise that there is something very wrong.

Voiceless, Sam can only watch helplessly as the family trip becomes a smoke-filled nightmare.

Shortlisted for the 2015 Vogel’s Literary Award, Sign is a captivating debut novel full of strength, quiet courage and the struggle to overcome silence.

 

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My Thoughts:

Sign is a novel that quietly creeps up on you, hooks you in and then doesn’t let go until the very last page. Instantly engaging, it’s told from the perspective of Sam, a boy about 11 years old who is recovering from surgery, whereby his voice box was removed as a last resort for curing his cancer. While Sam is in the midst of adjusting to a life without speech, his Aunt Dettie suffers a psychotic episode and kidnaps his younger sister and him, with the intent of driving from Sydney to Perth so that the children can be reunited with their father – her brother – who abandoned them some years ago.

 

Sign is an exceptional novel. There is an art to writing for adults from a child’s perspective, and it doesn’t always work, but in this case, Colin Dray has absolutely nailed it to perfection. Seeing the story from Sam’s view allowed for a build in tension that quickly spiralled into dread for me. Our view of Dettie and her deterioration was one of childlike confusion at her erratic behaviour, moving into a realisation that her actions and words were no longer making sense within the context of truth that had been provided to Sam and his sister Katie, finally climaxing into terror as Sam realises he is completely at the mercy of his aunt who is acting in a manner that he finds inexplicably frightening. This dread was sustained throughout by Katie’s instinctive refusal to accept her aunt’s word. As Sam observed Katie’s growing defiance to go along with her aunt’s plan, his own doubt was magnified. The utter terror that these two children were feeling was so apparent and I was alternately shocked and dismayed at each point of disintegration of Dettie’s sanity. It was horrifying to contemplate the danger that she was putting these children in.

 

Not being able to speak offered Sam many opportunities of observation that might not have been open to him previously. Colin Dray has done such a precise analysis of what no longer being able to speak really means. Everything, from that loss of communication through to the perceived disability people now considered Sam to have, was examined throughout the narrative. I have a son who is just a bit older than Sam, and it was extremely difficult for me to not have Sam in my own son’s image while I was reading. I think in many ways this enhanced my appreciation for Sam’s plight, and it certainly ensured my investment in him as an integral character. His sense of responsibility towards Katie was deep and protecting her became a singular focus for him, no small task for a boy who cannot speak and is still recovering from surgery and cancer treatments. But the bravery and honour within Sam were defining characteristics and he seemed to regard these as the opposite of those his father had shown in abandoning the family. I appreciated this immensely, a boy on the cusp of so much choosing his path with unequivocal surety.

 

The situation with Dettie raises many questions about mental illness within families. Dettie was very much a right hand for Joanne. She loved Sam and Katie, got them to and from school each day while Joanne was at work, and generally helped out as much as she could. But there was an underlying passive aggression to Dettie’s interactions with Joanne, a slight possession over the children that would possibly not have been tolerated had Joanne’s husband still been around. It was impossible for me to blame Joanne in anyway for what eventuated. When you’re dealing with mental illness, there are many things you have to just take at face value. While Dettie was definitely off the charts, I was so sad about her predicament. She truly had no control over her delusions. I can only imagine how devastating it would be to realise down the track, once you were well again, what sort of things you had done to those you loved while literally in the grips of madness.

“Dettie was trapped. She’d set herself on a course that had no ending, and from which there was no turning back.”

 

The heat, the fear, the helplessness, the mounting dread; the sheer vastness of Australia, a continent stretching across so many terrains, blistering under the summer sun and burning with ferocity. The sense of time and place was so present within this novel, at all times. You were constantly grounded within the setting, no small task given that the setting was always changing as the road trip progressed. But I felt it, as though I was there, the dust, the heat, and later, the choking smoke and falling ash.

 

Sign deserves all the accolades and all the nominations it can get for literary awards over the coming year. It is just that good. I can see a ripping thriller road trip movie coming out of this novel as well, as long as anyone is brave enough to take it on with empathy rather than sensationalism. Sign is categorised as a literary novel, and it is – with a very accessible delivery, but it also hangs around the edges of being a thriller. It’s one of those novels that everyone can read, of any age really, and I encourage everyone to do so. Colin Dray has crafted a story for our times, a sympathetic and informed portrayal of the impact of mental illness, and the elasticity of family bonds when trust becomes frayed and fear takes precedence. The hope threaded through the ending was a polished way to finish off. Katie’s capacity to forgive her aunt, to allow empathy to outweigh anger, is something we can all draw from. I loved this novel and can’t even begin to recommend it highly enough.

 

Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin via for providing me with a copy of Sign for review.

 

About the Author:

Colin Dray teaches English literature and creative writing. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as Meanjin, and his non-fiction has been published in Australian Literary Studies and Antipodes.

Colin lives in the Illawarra region of NSW with his wife and two daughters.