cultural understanding

When the Ground is Hard

Linda J

Living in Swaziland, Adele’s mother wants a better life for her daughter. Even though her father lives at a distance with his other family, Adele is well-supported and goes to a private school.

However, Adele finds things have changed when she returns to her boarding school after term-break. Her position in the ‘top girl’ group has been taken – by a girl whose father is more wealthy than her own. Worse still, she has been relegated to a room supposedly haunted by a dead student, and one she will share with an impoverished student, below her own social status.

Lottie is a uniquely bold student; either in spite of or because of her poor background. She is at Keziah Christian College as a supported student on a scholarship, and she takes no nonsense from anyone, even challenging teachers at times.

In contrast, Adele likes to keep things on an even keel. That is until her struggle with the top girls becomes heated and she has to choose a new path to get through the school term.

‘When the Ground is Hard’ is told by Malla Nunn, who was born in Swaziland and attended a mixed-race boarding school. The struggles of Adele and Lottie echo her own (and her mother’s) experiences in this #ownvoice story, as they battle to rise above the prejudices of racial segregation.

I wanted to tell a story that honoured the women and girls with whom I grew up – strong, brave, broken, vain, furious – girls who struggled to find their place in a racially segregated world where they, and I, were kept down for no good reason. (From Malla Nunn’s website.)

Adele and Lottie’s friendship is slow-growing but beautifully developed as they reluctantly team together.  Once Adele’s changed status at school opens her eyes to the levels of prejudices and hardships faced by mixed-race girls and women (particularly strong in the 1960s when the novel is set) they begin to bond. Cleverly, this is enhanced as they read Jane Eyre together, and reflect on Jane’s experiences and their own destinies.

A book which touches on many issues. Highly recommended 14+

# Available as ebook.

Everything I never told you

Linda J

Should parents’ dreams be lived through the lives of their children? 

Before she married, Marilyn had dreams of becoming a doctor, but then children came along. Her dreams were different from her mother’s, but as a mother, she has great plans for her daughter, Lydia – to make up for what she didn’t achieve herself.

Unfortunately, this dream will not be fulfilled. At the age of 16, Lydia is dead.

The story opens with Lydia’s drowning in the lake near her home. As it unfolds, the intense passion Marilyn has for her daughter to achieve is revealed. The reasons for this drive are clearly tied to her own need to achieve which has been thwarted by marriage.

There are other frustrations in ‘Everything I Never Told You’, in a family which is loving but unable to communicate all they feel. In a small town which is slowly adjusting to multiculturalism, the Lees are a novelty. As a Chinese-American family, they struggle to blend in – a concept James, the father, had battled (though being American-born), and something Marilyn’s mother had warned them of when they first married.

As much as Marilyn dotes on Lydia, there is little attention given to her siblings, Nath and Hannah. Locked out of her attention, both Nath and Hannah fail to speak up about things their parents should really know – about themselves and things they observe about the family. And then it is too late.

Some may find the intensity of Marilyn’s efforts to drive Lydia’s future extreme. Similarly, the treatment of the family within the community and their lack of integration may seem harsh, but set in between the late 1950s and 1970s it is a reflection of life experiences for those with cultural differences.

‘Everything I Never Told You’ also shows how, even in a loving family, there can be differing perspectives on what happens day-to-day. Without good communication, things can go unsaid and misunderstandings arise. There are many examples of what-ifs and story-turns that occur because someone fails to say what they really think or know. Clearly, Lydia’s inability to voice her feelings has fatal consequences.

Some may be frustrated with the way the characters behave in ‘Everything I Never Told You’, but Celeste Ng’s debut novel (which took 8 years and 4 drafts to complete) is both moving and clever. It portrays an unimaginable family drama – the death of a child – and weaves past and present to explain how it came about. It leaves the question at the end – who is really responsible?

Following this best selling debut novel, Ng has written a second one, ‘Little Fires Everywhere’. She talked to Goodreads interviewer Janet Potter about teen drama, race, Twitter, and the fear of writing about a place you love. Read the interview here on  GoodReads.

Here, Celeste introduces ‘Everything I Never Told You’:

Are there times when you don’t speak up for fear of saying the wrong thing?

How might Lydia’s life have worked out better?

N.B. this is adult fiction but accessible for mature readers.

Slipping back in time – Inheritance

Linda J

How much does your past impact your present? Being able to timeslip would certainly provide a bit of information about your heritage, wouldn’t it?

In Carol Wilkinson’s latest book, Inheritance, Nic discovers her inheritance includes the ability to ‘time slip’, which first comes about when she is left at her mother’s childhood home. Left in the care of her crotchety old grandfather – since her father travels a lot for work, and her mother died in childbirth, she has lots of time to explore the remote family property.

Family secrets intrigue Nic, and as she explores – the house, the local community and the attitudes of the locals, conflict, confrontation, and secrets arise. Left very much to her own devices, she finds much more than she expected – slipping back to times of old in the rural district.

‘Inheritance’ has the usual ponderings of whether the past can be changed if you act proactively in the past. As she time slips, Nic meets her mother and other native residents of her rural community who add to her understanding of her family’s standing in the local community. But what is the real purpose of her visits to the past?

The conflicts of European and the native peoples of Australia during western settlement play a key part in the history of the Mitchell family, which Nic discovers during her timeslips. She discovers the shocking truth of her ancestors’ participation in a massacre. In the present, she teams up at school with Thor, another teen trying to understand his own ancestral legacy.

This is a well-considered story dealing with our Australian heritage from alternate points of view – settler vs aboriginal, Nic vs her ancestors, Nic vs Thor, grandfather vs granddaughter. It presents some interesting what-ifs and asks us to consider Australia’s brutal settlement history, and how we should begin to make amends.

Would you like to timeslip to find out about your family’s past? What would you change if you could?

For other books by Carol Wilkinson see: http://carolewilkinson.com.au/books/