Sita Brahmachari discusses her novel, When Shadows Fall
Author/Illustrator Posts
Fanny the Gipsy Hill Cat. The inspiration behind The Railway Kitten by Holly Webb
Children at book events often ask me if all the cats and dogs in my Animal Stories series belong to me. I have to explain that I could never have written the books without the wonderful animals Iβve been lucky enough to share my life with, but I havenβt actually had fifty-five different puppies and kittens. (The fifty-fifth book in the series is published in April!) Even though I did grow up with one cat, two dogs, twelve gerbils, a mouse, three hamsters, a terrapin, some stick insects and a canary (not absolutely all at the same time).
Lots of the books are actually based on my own pets β Lost in the Snow, 
the very first book in the series 
was inspired by Rosie, the stray kitten who adopted my family a little while before I was born. Our clever kitten was a family story, and I have such strong memories of making up adventures for her with my mum. When my editor at Little Tiger suggested writing a lost cat book, seventeen years ago, those stories were still in my head. In every story the poor kitten was having a terrible time β she was lost, stuck in the snow, hungry, being chased by a dog β but it was OK, because I knew that she was actually downstairs, probably curled up on the back of the sofa (or letting my dad feed her cheese and onion crisps, which were her favourite treat). I wanted that drama and danger in my books, along with the security of a happy ending.
Now I have three very spoilt cats (Iβve just rescued a coffee cup with milk in from my eldest cat, who thinks food tastes better stolen). Theyβve inspired five books between the three of them so far, as well as giving me constant reminders on cat behaviour while trying to sit on my laptop. But lots of my books are based on stories from friends, and even from readers. I had the most brilliant email from a fan called Edie a few years ago, telling me about her kitten whoβd been rescued from a barbed wire fence, and named Barbie! I read it thinking, wow, this is a book! That email became The Rescued Kitten.
The Railway Kitten came from being told another wonderful rescue story. My agent Julia told me about the cat at Gipsy Hill Station near where she lives β actually just up the road from Norwood, where I grew up. I loved the idea of a station cat who liked to greet all the passengers, and wondered about putting a station cat into a book. However, Iβd actually already written The Forgotten Puppy, about a dog
who accidentally goes on a train journey, and I didnβt want the stories to be too similar, so I made notes
and stored the idea away. (The Forgotten Puppy was inspired by a reader who told me at a book event about her station staff dad finding a dog on one of his trains!) A while later, Julia gave me an update on Fanny the Gipsy Hill Cat β sheβd been hit by a car and badly injured, but a crowdfunder had raised the money for her operation in a matter of hours. It was such a wonderful example of love. Fanny was actually saved by community donations a second time in 2020, when she had a serious infection and needed veterinary care.
Real animal stories are a fantastic starting point β but I often have to make a lot of changes to make the original story work for a childrenβs book. For The Railway Kitten I really wanted to add child characters. Scarlett and Abbie are nine-year-old girls who love seeing Whiskers at the station every day on their way to school β theyβre really worried when she disappears, and theyβre the ones to discover the kitten after her accident. Theyβre desperate to save her, but the kittenβs owners need help to fund her surgery. The girls are the ones to suggest fundraising, and they make posters to put all round the station to tell everyone who loves Whiskers whatβs happening. After the surgery Whiskersβs owners arenβt able to give her the care she needs, and Scarlett adopts her. The details about Whiskersβs operation and aftercare actually came from my own cat Milly, who was hit by a car a few years ago (the third book sheβs had a major part in!)
Iβm so excited for The Railway Kitten to be published β itβs a story that Iβve been thinking about for such a long time!
Photo credit: Charlotte Knee
To hear more from Holly Webb, then watch this interview filmed last year at Holly’s home.
Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere – A Q&A with Ruth Lauren
When Tourmalineβs mother goes missing on a search for precious artefacts, Tourmaline sets off to find her with her best friend George, her new friend (former foe) Mai and her limitless determination. On their adventure, they encounter a band of female pirates, a maze of talking trees and a series of challenges that test the children and their friendship. But will it be enough to reunite Tourmaline with her mother?
The first book in a fun, feminist fantasy adventure series, with a protagonist that flies off the page and into readersβ imaginations. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Vashti Hardy and Abi Elphinstone.
If you’d like to find out more about the author behind Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere, check out Ruth Lauren’s Q&A below:
What is Tourmaline and the Island of Elsewhere about?
Β Itβs about a very determined girl who has to launch a rescue mission when her intrepid explorer mother goes missing. Itβs also about friendship and thinking about right and wrong and how itβs not always straightforward to tell the difference – but mostly itβs a fun adventure.
Tell us a bit more about the world Tourmaline lives in?
Tourmaline has lived all of her life in Pellavere University where her mother works as an artefact hunter, but sheβs about to burst out into a much bigger world where sheβs going to sail the seas, discover a very strange island and learn that magic exists.
What are you most excited to share with readers of your new children’s book?
Β I really hope readers will love Tourmaline and her friends (and possible foes) and I canβt wait for them to meet a certain Captain and explore the very unusual island of Elsewhere. And last, but definitely not least, Iβm excited to share the beautiful and striking cover by artist Sharon King-Chai. Itβs stunning!
What children’s books would you recommend to young readers that have entertained and inspired you?Β
So many! Iβll restrict myself to a few favourites Iβve read very recently. For the most wonderful fantasy, I loved Utterly Dark by Philip Reeve, the Monsters of Rookhaven books by Padraig Kenny and Gallant by V.E. Schwab. The Five Realms series by Kieran Larwood is brilliant. Anything by Lucy Strange is fantastic, as is Hilary McKay. And two very different books I enjoyed for very different reasons β When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle and Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans. Iβll leave it there or Iβll be recommending books forever.
Any tips for aspiring writers?
Read. Read everything. Read all the time. Nothing will make you a better writer than reading. And when you start writing, keep going. If you want to be a writer, you have to be very persistent and never give up β a bit like Tourmaline!
The Time Tider – a Q&A with SinΓ©ad O’Hart
What is The Time Tider about?
The Time Tider is the story of Mara Denbor, a girl who has always lived with her dad, Gabriel, in the back of a van which theyβve customised to hold everything they need. Theyβre constantly on the move, and Maraβs dad gives her the impression that this is because a mysterious βsomeoneβ is after them. Mara has never questioned it, despite the many difficulties theyβve encountered over the years, until she stumbles upon some of her fatherβs many secrets and realises that he hasnβt been telling her anything like the whole story. For her dad isnβt just her dad; heβs also the Time Tider, a person whose job it is to gather up deposits of unused or wasted Time from anywhere in history β and then, just as Maraβs getting her head around that, her dad is kidnappedβ¦
Tell us a bit more about the world Mara and Jan lives in, is it a contemporary world?Β
Mara, Gabriel, and Janβs world is indeed a contemporary one. Itβs based on modern-day Ireland, and the place-names Iβve used can be mapped on to or have some relationship with towns and areas in Wexford, where I grew up, as well as Dublin (which goes by its own name in the book). Derrinfield is a fictional place though I imagine it as a little like several of the towns in the Irish midlands, where I live now. However, I have taken liberties with some of the distances involved! In reality, βWhiteharbourβ and βPort Rossβ are a lot closer than they are in The Time Tider, even if you are driving on back roads.
How did you come up with the idea of The Time Tider?
The idea for The Time Tider was one of the first I ever had, back in my early twenties (a long time ago now!) when becoming an author was a dream I never imagined would come true. I was studying for a PhD in English literature at the time, and one day as I read a very interesting book (Time, Work and Culture in the Middle Ages by Jacques LeGoff) I came across a discussion about the history of time and timekeeping, and how ideas about time completely changed once clocks, and clock-towers, became common throughout Europe. Once upon a time people used nature, or their own bodies, to tell the βtimeβ β so, they rose and went to bed with the sun, they ate when they were hungry, and so on. But when clocks βregularisedβ time, people started rising when the clock struck six, and eating when the clock struck one, and something about that grabbed my imagination. I remember excitedly thinking: what if this change created a gap between the two βTimesβ? And what if the gap between these two Times filled up with wasted time? Or unspent time? And if that could happen, and someone was able to go back and collect all that wasted time β what would they do with it? And so, The Time Tider was born. I have tried to write it at least five times over the past twenty years, and Iβm so glad that Iβve finally found the right way to write it. Sometimes, writing things the wrong way first is really important!
What are you most excited to share with readers of your new children’s book?
Iβm excited to share the setting of this story, as itβs my first contemporary setting. All my other books have had historical settings, or at least pretend-historical settings; The Time Tider is the first book Iβve written which features mobile phones, cars, modern-day problems like homelessness, poverty, sickness, and parents who might not have their childrenβs best interests guiding their decisions (at least, not all of the time). I really love Mara, my central character, and how brave and clever she needs to be to work out all the secrets of her family while also just surviving in a tough situation, and I also love Jan, her new friend, whoβs facing challenges of his own. I enjoyed writing their very different family situations and working through their growing friendship, which felt so real to me. So, I guess I hope readers will feel I did a good job handling the setting, and that theyβll love Mara and Jan as much as I do.Β
What did you find challenging when writing The Time Tider?
I think, with any book that mentions time-travel, even in a sideways sort of way like I do in The Time Tider, things can get complicated pretty quickly! I think the most challenging part of this book was getting my ideas about how the timey-wimey bits work clear in my head, and then getting them on to the page without mangling them too much. I was gently encouraged several times during the writing and editing process to simplify things, and my editors had a pesky habit of asking me really tough questions β ones I didnβt want to think about! β so that we got the clearest version of the story on to the page. It was quite tough at times but Iβm so glad we all persevered, as Iβm really proud of the final version of the story and I hope itβs not only clear, but also interesting, exciting, and thrilling!
What children’s books would you recommend to young readers that have entertained and inspired you?
This is a question I could answer for the rest of my life! I co-host a podcast called Storyshaped with another childrenβs author, Susan Cahill, where we ask people questions like this one, and Iβve often thought of the stories that have shaped me, and my life. The βclassicβ childrenβs books that I read when I was a child myself and which definitely inspired and entertained me would include Elidor by Alan Garner, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine lβEngle, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat OβShea, and so many others. But right now there are brilliant childrenβs books being published every single week: there is no shortage of excellent stories out there to entertain, inspire, and amaze. One of the best books Iβve read this year is Sharon Goslingβs The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott, which deserves to win all the prizes and sell millions of copies β it really is extraordinary! Iβve also loved The House of Shells by Efua TraorΓ©, Jummy at the River School by Sabine Adeyinka, The Strangeworlds Travel Agency books by LD Lapinski, Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin, The Chestnut Roaster by Eve McDonnell, and a stunning picture book by Irish author Olivia Hope with pictures by Daniel EgnΓ©us called Be Wild, Little One has been inspiring me since the first moment I saw it. I hope you go out there and find the book or books for you, and donβt forget to ask your local librarian or bookseller for help and tips if you get stuck.
Any tips for aspiring writers?
I always tell young or aspiring writers to follow my ABC β Always Be Curious. If you bring curiosity with you as you navigate the world, youβll never be short of ideas and inspiration. Iβm forever asking questions about things β usually, inside my head! β and it helps me to see things differently; the crack in the pavement is a portal to another world, or the bird flying overhead is a dragon in disguise, or the scattered stones on the ground are lost teeth from the tooth fairyβs bag, or anything you like! Every time you go for a walk, or every trip you take to the shops, or every journey to football practice, or whatever you might find yourself doing, will be packed with stories and potential stories if you use all your senses to find them. So, soak up the world around you every day, and youβll find yourself picking up nuggets of inspiration I like to call βstory seedsβ, which will take root inside your imagination and sprout one day into something amazing. And, most importantly of all: never leave home without your notebook! As soon as you are struck with an idea, write it down or draw it out straight away, or that tricky, slippery little thing will be off into the air again, looking for another head to land in. And the last thing: write for fun, enjoy yourself, and donβt judge your own work too harshly. Take it easy on yourself. Creating is tough work! Stick with it, and never lose the joy.
In conversation with children’s author, Holly Webb
The joy of book clubs by YA thriller writer Tracy Darnton
My latest thriller Ready or Not is just out. Teenager Kat disappears during a game of hide-and-seek at a late-night party on holiday in Cornwall. For years, three families have holidayed together at Creek House so the βCreekersβ have grown up together. I tell the story through Millie, the youngest, whoβs devastated by the absence of best friend Kat. One year on, the remaining teenagers head back to Creek House.
One of my favourite author things to do is join in with a book club talking about one of my thrillers. All authors love to talk about their books and this is the way to have a group of engaged bookish kids or adults delighted to talk about it β what could be better! And often the organiser has gone to town on the refreshments and nibbles. Iβm hoping for some Cornish fudge when talking about Ready or Notβ¦
Iβve been to book clubs with bookshops and libraries or schools β and even the WI. Of course, the last couple of years have meant joining online once schools were back in action. Either way, Iβm always asked such interesting questions β often people have seen something new in my books I didnβt know was there.
Iβm in two clubs myself β one is with fellow writers and we alternate reading Middle Grade and YA. Weβre always reading as writers, so looking at how the author has artfully worked in backstory or authentic dialogue. My pet topic is endings β especially in thrillers. Iβm always on the lookout for a delicious twist and seeing how that has been foreshadowed by the author β how have they laid the groundwork so that the twist works well as though a switch has been flicked and it all makes sense?
I find writing discussion questions for my own novels a useful part of the development of the story. It helps me to crystallise what the book is about and to think about issues which will be of interest to my readers, who are at the stage of life where they are asking questions about self and society. So Ready or Not has questions about the writing, or craft, like: βHow are games used in the book?β and ones to provoke more wide-ranging discussion about friendship, obsession or privilege like: βIs Noah right that heβll be treated differently from the privileged Creeker teens? What does the future hold for him?β
I canβt wait to pop along to some book clubs to hear what readers have to say about Ready or Not.
Ready or Not is available now
You can follow Tracy on Twitter or Instagram @TracyDarnton
Bringing Old Friends to Life by Bryony Pearce
WARNING – This post contains spoilers for Savage Island
When I went to the Wirral Book Awards with my standalone horror novel, Savage Island, I wasnβt expecting to win, but I love a good book award, especially those voted for by young readers, so I went for the craic, as they say.
My performance there ended with a Q&A, during which one boy put up his hand and asked if there was going to be a sequel.
Now, as Savage Island was written as a standalone horror novel, you can imagine how many survivors there were (Iβll give you a clue β more than zero, less than two!). This would make writing a sequel extremely difficult. I assumed he was joking.
Laughing, I threw his question back to the crowd. βWho else wants a sequel?β
Hands flew up. So many hands.
Hang on, were they serious?
βDo you mean a sequel or a prequel?β
βSequel!β
βWith the same characters or different ones?β
βThe same ones!β
This audience of avid young readers wanted me to write a sequel with the same characters β¦ who were all (bar one) meant to be dead.
I returned to my car clutching my prize (reader β I won the award!) and thinking. Was there any way I could make this happen for them? And did I want to?
Well, there did seem to be more I could explore in this world. Savage Island was organised by a psychopathic billionaire, seeking more psychopaths to expand his empire, over whom he would have control, via means of recordings that showed them committing atrocities.
But what if he wasnβt just finding these psychopaths via means of personality testing, what if heβd been trying to createthem? What if Savage Island was just part of a programme that Grady, Ben and Will didnβt know they were inside?
And what happens when Grady, the psychopathic anti-authoritarian conspiracy theorist ends up forced to work in a suit for a billionaire?
Who are the other teens in the βgraduate recruitment programmeβ? Other survivors of βthe islandβ or does Gold have several different βrecruitment campaignsβ running?
These thoughts stuck in my head. So, I started to wonder, how could I resurrect Ben and Lizzie?
At the end of Savage Island Ben wakes on a beach, to see the bodies of his brother, Will, and the girl he loves, Lizzie. Then Grady walks towards him with malicious intent. I had intended this to mean that Grady kills Ben, but what if he didnβt? What if Ben survives the encounter?
But how?
Then I thought about who Grady is β psychopathic, anti-authoritarian conspiracy theorist β would Grady want to be taking orders from an old white guy for the rest of his life? Wouldnβt he see the advantage in keeping Ben alive – Ben who now hates Gold and will do anything to destroy him?
So, I decided to, not only have Ben survive, but to have Grady save him.
Throughout Savage Island, Grady has been the go-to guy for medication. His doctor father sent him with every possible pill and painkiller, so it didnβt seem a stretch that he would be able to feed Ben some sleeping tablets, which would knock him out long enough for Goldβs cameras to be satisfied that Grady had done his job.
Neither is Ben stuffed with medical knowledge. Could he really know that Lizzie was dead, just by looking at her? What if Grady had done the same with her?
So, I had a way to save Ben and Lizzie. That gave me three characters to start the sequel with. Grady, working for Gold, but trying to find a way to get out and Ben and Lizzie in hiding, waiting for their chance to destroy him.
It was brilliant to be able to write more about these characters I thought Iβd lost (killing off characters is something I do, only regretfully), to explore more about who they are and who they have become after surviving the island (they have changed in big ways).
So, thank you to the students at the Wirral Book Award who inspired me to resurrect these old friends and continue their story. Iβm glad I was able to do so for you (and for me)!
If you want to know more about Cruel Castle, or any of Bryonyβs other books, please visit her website: www.bryonypearce.co.uk, or follow her on Twitter or Instagram @BryonyPearce or TikTok @BryonyVPearce
Drowned Worlds In Childrenβs Fiction by Nicola Penfold
Between Sea and Sky is set in an imagined future, after sea levels have risen and many species have died out. On the flat south east coast of England, a small mainland population lives in a concrete and metal compound, built on stilts to protect it against flooding. The cooling tower of an old coal fired power station grows stacked rows of salad and vegetable plants, in artificial solutions and light. And vast fields of solar panels and pylons stretch inland, sending valuable electricity to the governing Central District.
Out at sea, a small family β one dad, two sisters β make their living on a ramshackle old oyster farm. A rusted cruise liner, now a prison ship, takes anyone who clocks up too many civil disobedience points on the tightly controlled mainland, where rules and restrictions are a way of life. This is my vision of a drowned Earth.
Iβve always been drawn to post-apocalyptic worlds. A small group of survivors in a changed landscape. One of my favourite books growing up was Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence, set in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Itβs bleak reading now, going back to it all these years later, but at the time I adored it.
Where the World Turns Wild, my first book, was set in a world after a pandemic had locked people in cities, away from the natural world. Between Sea and Sky is post climate change and biodiversity loss (these crises come hand in hand). Itβs a scary vision, but the statistics are scary too. Sea levels are thought to have risen 16cm since the start of the twentieth century, but by far the biggest rises have been in recent decades. Levels are thought to be rising 3.6mm a year, and this is predicted to get faster still. If you go to https://coastal.climatecentral.org you can see what areas will be underwater by when, unless we take drastic action, and not only stop churning out greenhouse gases, but invest in solutions to reabsorb them.
Iβm not of course the first childrenβs writer to write a flooded future. Marcus Sedgwickβs Floodland came out in 2000 and this short, brilliant, visionary book is still used regularly in schools. East Anglia is underwater and survivors live precariously on tiny newly formed islands, like that of Ely Cathedral (βEeels Islandβ). In a world of rival tribes, everything has become about survival.
Marcus Sedgwick said recently, writing on a new Climate Fiction League website, set up by writer Lauren James, that βjust becauseΒ weΒ might think something is well-known, accepted scientific fact, doesnβt mean everyone doesβ¦ Thatβs why itβs very important that we continue to speak (even at risk of boring ourselves) about the vitally important matters that need to change in the world β in this case, climate change. And of course, the best way to do this is to work with younger people.β
Fiction can show futures we want to avoid. But this material is not just futuristic. In Swimming Against the Storm by Jess Butterworth, Eliza and her sister Avery live in a fishing village in the bayous, the swamplands of Louisiana. This is an area under massive threat from rising sea levels and subsidence. Itβs estimated that a football field of coastal wetlands is lost every hour into the sea in Louisiana. Swimming Against the Storm brings into sharp focus what this means, for this vitally important habitat, so rich in biodiversity that it sings with life in the book. And for the communities that live here, and make their living from the shrimp and oysters which have traditionally been so plentiful, the sadness at whatβs being lost is palpable. The book draws attention to the added stresses that oil and gas companies are putting on the bayous, as they dig out new canals.
Bren McDibble is a New Zealand writer living in Australia, whose books have featured a world without pollinators (How to Bee), a world after a wheat fungus has destroyed cereal crops and caused famine (Dog Runner) and her own vision of a drowned world (Across the Risen Sea). I asked Bren why she chose this last topic.
βSea inundation is a process thatβs already a very real threat to so many cities around the world. By setting a story after a global sea rise event, I get to create a survival story in a new world. Seeing our world breaking up is now our scary daily news and I like to look beyond that. What comes next? I feel it empowers young readers to cope with an environmental topic if I focus on the survival and show characters thriving in a new (but changed) world.β
Across the Risen Sea pushes a message about low-impact lives β βliving gentle livesβ that will appeal to environmentally conscious readers (most young people today!). But I loved the playfulness too, and the inventiveness, in which this new world is rendered. There is a scene where the main characters, Neoma and Jag, climb the stairwells of a flooded office tower, its top floors poking out of the water. Theyβre looking for salvage. And in the bookβs opening pages, the head of a baby doll, home to a hermit crab, clambers over sea walls made of old car frames. They live in βRusty Busβ. These kinds of details were some of the things I most enjoyed writing in Between Sea and Sky – seeing whatβs left of our world and what the characters make of it. One of my characters, Pearl, collects washed up broken dolls, and remakes them as mermaids, to release back into the sea. Her sister, Clover, tightropes the backbone of a beached whale skeleton.
Itβs a fine balance sometimes, writing something intriguing and inviting, a world where readers want to spend time, and sounding the alarm call loud enough. I was writing Between Sea and Sky last spring. We were all in COVID lockdown, and it felt important to pack the story full of hope. Hope comes in two forms in the book. My child characters who notice things adults are too busy and worn down to see. And the natural world, which has so much capacity to heal and help us, even now, after weβve done so much to destroy it. Iβm going to finish with a climate strike placard one of my daughters made last year. I hope we swim!
For other drowned worlds in childrenβs fiction try:
(for older readers / middle grade)
Flood World by Tom Huddleston
Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray
(for young adults)
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
Useful Idiots by Jan Mark
Also check out https://climate-fiction.org/ Climate Fiction Writers League
Me and the Robbersons. A gift of love to my son. Siri Kolu.
Why is Me and the Robbersons fun and whimsical? It is my gift of love to my son. The book started as a bedtime story for my five-year-old Martti, who felt that the world of brave fairytale heroes and Pixar characters was no longer for him. He commissioned me to write a story better suited for him. He wanted a tailored story, a story to fit him perfectly, with an ordinary child at the centre. No heroes, no superheroes, just a child. He also wanted the main character to be a girl.
I felt it was heart-warming that my son wanted to connect with me through a story. That sounds good, I said to my son, sure I could do this. Then I asked, βany more requests?β At that point my son was five, I had published my debut novel for adults and was working as a dramatist and as a script doctor. In short, I trusted my writing and I felt safe asking that.
Lesson of the story β if you want a real challenge, ask for requests from a five-year-old.
My son gave me a list. He wanted:
1) Fast cars chased by other cars, driving at high speed on winding roads.
2) Children high in tree tops, spying on the cars with binoculars. And these kids should be funny and clever and talk in a code language.
Umm, I thought. Code language? This sounds tricky.
But my son wasnΒ΄t quite finished. The most important thing still was missing from the listβ¦
3) Candy! LOTS of candy. All the kinds of candy you can find. Pix βnβ mix for sure. Lollies. Chocolate bars. Cotton candy. All sorts of candy. In enormous quantities, the largest amount of sugar-coated treasures I could possible invent. Anabundance of candy.
βAre you sure you got this right, Mummy?β my son asked with a worried look. βAre you writing it down? You canβt mess this up or you will spoil the story.β And since I am a grown-up with a βworn-out brainβ, he instructed me once more. βNot the amount of candy for adultsβ, he added. βNot like a box of Tic Tacs. I mean the Serious Candy Business. I mean the candy feast for the kids, the candy professionals.β
Then it slowly sank in.Β I knew nothing of this β I was a rookie. And I was in deep deep trouble.
But I learned. I started working on the story. I wrote and rewrote it and my son was the worldβs harshest editor. βThe boring bitsβ from the text needed to be deleted. βWe leave just the yummies.β So we did. That was my second time at writing school twice and it made me the writer of childrenβs fiction I am today. I think it made me aΒ better Mum as well. Now I know the candy business is Serious Business.
The story my son commissioned is called Me and the Robbersons. As of 2021 the book has been translated over twenty languages. The bandits in my story have run to countries like South Korea, Russia, Spain and Germany. I wrote about a funny bandit family who steal young Maisie to be a friend for their robber kids, but in fact the bandits stole me too! In Scandinavia I am called the Robber Mother. I have written a decadeβs worth of bandit stories and seen them come to life in a film and in several plays for stage. I have created a bandit cook book, some bandit family games and quizzes. Even though I have a serious fear of flying, I was (before Covid-19) flying around Europe to meet the readers of the bandit story.
The best bit is that I receive some βInteresting Mailβ, as my kids call it. I get lovely drawings of bandit vans and photos of pets, named after Maisie or Charlie of Wild Carl!
I need to make a confession. I think I am no longer an adult. I might be a ten-year-old in an adult-looking body! And I think I love it. Writing Me and the Robbersons changed me for the better. It changed my life, and I owe it all to my son.
K.L. Kettle introduces The Boy I Am
When power corrupts…tear it down…The Boy I Am is the powerful debut novel from K.L. Kettle out now
Dear Reader,
Iβm so excited for you to hold The Boy I Am in your hands.
I came to this story wondering what kind of feminist I wanted to be. Writing this book helped me process my own experiences from years working in a male dominated industry. There have been so many great times, but theyβre pierced by moments when some men I worked for reduced me to something to flirt with, dismiss, or sideline when unwanted advances were met with polite declines.
Each moment sticks with me. I over analyze whether I dealt with them the right way, then wonder if there is a right way, then doubt my memory, then beat myself up for taking the burden of anxiety on myself, and so on… Sound familiar? You donβt need to be a woman to know these feelings, far from it, they come wherever there is disparity in power. And thereβs a lot of that today.
The proverb βabsolute power corrupts absolutelyβ kept circling my mind as I found Judeβs story. If we are all equal, are we all equally capable of abusing the power we have? If so, how do we choose to be better?
See, I told you I over analyze.
From where it began, soon my research took me to some places full of sadness:
To forums teaching men how to manipulate women, where young men believe their worth is only in relation to their ability to be with a woman, or where they are radicalized and pressed into dark causes to compensate.
To charities raising awareness of the hidden problem of child marriage for both girls and boys in a world where thirty seven countries have no real minimum age of marriage, including the USA, and where the rules can be exploited, not only for straight and cis people, but often to force young LGBTQI people into marriage.
I saw the worst extremes of both gender rights movements and questioned my own identity and beliefs.
But…
And itβs a really important but…
I came out the other side with hope because of people I met along the way, working together despite their differences: activists for gender diversity and equality, for disability and anti- racism. I also came out with the comfort that things are, slowly, getting better. But it will take all of us working together to stop them from getting worse.
The realization I came to is that I am an unfinished feminist. And thatβs how I want to be, always learning about the power I have, the systems I am a part of, and how I can work with those around me to strive for a better, more compassionate world.
I hope your journey of discovery is as powerful as mine.
K.
