Trish Bogan’s article appears in the September 2014 edition of Aurora
A huge thank you to Aurora magazine editor Tracey Edstein for contacting us, and to Trish Bogan for interviewing Annette and producing such an informative article about Annette and how the book came to be!
Maitland’s Annette Young is well and truly occupied raising four boisterous sons, but amidst the commotion, she found time to write her first novel, A Distant Prospect. Annette’s husband Francis, and sons John-Paul, Patrick, Max and Benedict, are naturally proud of her achievement.
Most of Annette’s youth was lived on Sydney’s north shore. She did not always enjoy school and “invented imaginary friends as a way of surviving”. She had already developed a love of classical music, “but there was nobody to share it with and that was heartbreakingly lonely”.
When she was 18, Annette converted to Catholicism. She found her new faith answered many of the problems she had been grappling with. “I wanted a way of living my life; I wanted explanations.”
Annette attended Sydney University, earned an Honours History Degree, and began teaching for several years. She enjoyed the experience but became unsettled. “It was a real crossroads point of my life.” She returned to university.
While in her 30s, Annette undertook her PhD in English Literature. During this time she wrote the first draft of A Distant Prospect over six months. “I found it incredibly cathartic. It’s extraordinary what things started coming out when you are forced to put yourself into words.
“At the end of this period, I realised how important music was to me.” Annette had studied music from the age of six. “It has been my saving grace.”
What followed was a notable time in Annette’s life. She completed her PhD and finally pursued her music career. “I’m a pianist. I started teaching piano and running a studio, and took up the cello.”
Annette and Francis married in 2002 and as their sons arrived, she decided to complete the book largely written 17 years earlier. “I sat down and re-wrote it. It is amazing what marriage and children do to your perspective.” Annette firmly believes that when you write, you address the big questions from your own life.
Subsequent drafts saw major changes to the story with new individuals added and different plot developments due to the maturity and lived experience Annette had undergone since first writing the book.
A Distant Prospect is narrated by Lucy, an Irish lass who arrives in 1920s Sydney with her father following the tragic death of his wife and Lucy’s mother. Lucy is struck down by polio and spends her recuperation learning the cello. She attends a Catholic girls’ school and is relentlessly taunted because of her disability.
She studies the cello with a gifted teacher who persists in bringing three other girls together to perform as a quartet. Despite initial resistance, they eventually become close friends and share each other’s families, homes, peaks and slumps. Their lives change as they grow in maturity, personality and musical prowess.
Annette is meticulous in fact and description. There are many sub-plots, challenges and upheavals throughout the book; the Catholic Church and devotions of that era feature. Sydney during the latter 1920s post World War I is depicted with detail and accuracy in language and architecture. Significant events of that time are highlighted.
Annette says, “Music is a unifying, healing and transforming process.” In her book, the most predominant theme is music: the tunes and instruments; the people who love, imagine, live and play music; the magic, intensity and beauty they create and the passion they generate.
A Distant Prospect has been well received, although ironically, Annette found it difficult when the final draft was completed.
“Letting go of the manuscript was the most scary thing. I had poured out my soul.” The way she has overcome that fear is to begin writing again. She is now on her first draft ofanother book, a sequel to A Distant Prospect.
– Trish Bogan
To win a signed copy of A Distant Prospect, send an envelope with your name, address and phone number to Aurora, A Distant Prospect, PO Box 756 Newcastle 2300 by 20 September. Like A Distant Prospect on Facebook and receive occasional updates from Annette. Visit http://adistantprospect.com for more information or to buy a signed copy.
Get your copy of September Aurora now, and enter the competition by September 20, to win a beautiful 610-page hardcover copy, personally dedicated to you by the author.
The hardcover editon
“Aurora” is the official magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. This award-winning publication is made available as a 24 page liftout magazine in six Fairfax publications around the region: The Newcastle Herald, The Maitland Mercury, The Singleton Argus, The Muswellbrook Chronicle, The Manning River Times and The Scone Advocate.