www.maitlandmercury.com.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
THE MAITLAND MERCURY
Lifting the Lid on Lucy
by REBECCA BERRY
Lorn author Annette Young’s story about a young Irish girl called Lucy has been written in her head for years.
But the words did not appear on paper until now in the form of Mrs Young’s first novel called A Distant Prospect.
Mrs Young had to put Irish immigrant Lucy at the back of her “hyperactive imagination” for a while because she became a wife and then mother to four young boys now aged 9, 8, 6 and 4 years.
And if that was not enough to keep Mrs Young busy, she home schools her sons as well.
Mrs Young, a former secondary school teacher, was born in Sydney and grew up on Sydney’s northern beaches and north shore before coming to Maitland six years ago.
“It’s the best place for my family,” she said.
“I have always written and I have always loved music and that’s how this story came about. “Lucy has been floating around in my head since I was 14 or 15 years old.
“She came to me and she became Irish – even though that is not my heritage – and I became fascinated by her Irish heritage and that lovely part of the world, which I visited in 1996.
I delivered a paper about the first draft of my book, which I rewrote two years ago-characters were axed, they married, had children and everything changed.
“So the book was placed on the back burner for years.”
Set in 1928 Sydney, A Distant Prospect is narrated by Irish immigrant girl, Lucy Straughan, whose father has nursed her through polio and who learns to deal with the trials, beauty and unpredictability of life.
Lucy is an accomplished cellist, who finds her way back from loneliness through music and the friendship of the members of a string quartet.
Mrs Young found “incredible appeal” in the cello and learned to play the instrument to write her book. She also plays piano and sings.
She did not like leaving the story unfinished and it was her close connection to her grandmother Twoey, who died in 1996, that kept her motivated.
“Lucy wasa way of me sorting out myself, but she is in no way like me,” Mrs Young said. “She speaks a different language but it has taught me who are the important people in my life and what we do in life is important.
“My grandmother was from of a family of first settlers who came to Tasmania and she lived in the same era as Lucy. I always had a soft spot for the 1920s and its history.
“It is so interesting to me, the music, architecture, books, language and events of that time.”
Mrs Young wrote the story on pieces of scrap paper while caring for her sons.
“I wrote a section at a time and I can type like the wind. This usually happened between 10pm and midnight.
“The best thing about this book for me – I did it.
“I enjoyed creating the characters so much and interacting with them, putting the ideas together and telling the story.
“It is my chance to tell a ripping good yarn, play tricks on the reader and lead them on a merry chase.”
Mrs Young engaged in painstaking research to uncover every detail of 1920s life in Sydney for her novel.
“It was about reconstructing 1928 Newtown for the book-Sydney before the Great Depression.
“What were the shops selling, who had a telephone, who was the milkman, the football team’s name, what were the 1920s words, such as ‘panache’ and ‘bees-knees’, what recipes were in use, what cars were being driven, what army regiments were in, which violin and cello would Lucy have used?
“The history, the families, the characters, it is all about my love of detail – intimate, every day, ordinary lives.”
Mrs Young is not finished with Lucy and is already working on a prequel and sequel to the story.
A Distant Prospect will be launched at Maitland Regional Art Gallery’s Seraphine Cafe on Sunday, December 9 at 4.30pm.
The book will be available at McDonalds bookstore in Maitland’s Heritage Mall from next month.
THE MAITLAND MERCURY
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
www.maitlandmercury.com.au