Esther Ehrlich (Awesome Women)

I'm honoured today to have Esther Ehrlich, the author of Nest, on my blog answering some tough questions about women and fictional characters and role models.

Nest is one of the books that kicked off the new publishing imprint, Rock the Boat. I think Rock the Boat have a fantastic list so far and that Nest looks like a wonderful middle grade novel about friendship and adventure and birds and more difficult situations!  It was published in July, get your hands on a copy!

To find out more about Nest or Esther Ehrlich, please do visit the following websites:

Esther Ehrlich ... Esther on Twitter ... Esther on Facebook ... Esther on Goodreads

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I was born and raised in Boston, a place I love and miss. Now I live right on the edge of a huge regional park in the San Francisco Bay Area and wrote NEST at my desk that looks out into the trees branches. When we’re not having a drought, Wildcat Creek flows through our back yard. I live with my husband (and, yes, best friend) and our two teenagers.

Writing and publishing my first novel has been an amazing ride!

Did you have a role model growing up?

I had a teacher in 6th grade who made a huge impression on me. She spoke her mind, had very strong opinions, wore old-fashioned clothes, and introduced us to the concept of “sex role stereotyping.” And she loved, loved, loved books! She turned a corner of our classroom into a living room and used to read to us while we lounged around on pillows… She actually came to my launch party for NEST in my hometown. When we saw each other after so many years, we both burst into tears!

Who do you look up to now?

One person I’ve admired for a long time is Meryl Streep. She’s amazingly smart, capable, and creative. I think she has that rare gift of being able to imagine herself in someone else’s shoes. Empathy is a hugely important quality, I think, for actors and writers. And everyone else. Without it, we can’t make sense of each other or of the world; we can’t make change happen.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Hard to believe, but when I was really young, I said I wanted to be a “farmer’s wife.” I didn’t realize that I could just be the farmer! I liked the idea of raising animals and working outside and making jars of pickles and tomato sauce to put away for the winter.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My mom grew up very poor and had a pretty rough childhood, but she was extremely curious, creative, and determined to find her way in the world. As a teenager, she studied on her own at a public library and won a nationwide contest that paid for her education at an elite college. She was a poet and a deeply loving, tender, flawed, strong woman.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

One favourite! Oh no! I choose Charlotte. She was one inspired, kind, brave, creative woman (spider!)

Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?

Chirp in NEST reminds me of me, in some ways. And I like her, which is a good sign.

I can’t land on just one character that I’d choose as a best friend. For me to love a book, I need to feel deeply connected to at least one character and I love a lot of books!

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

That’s a tough question. Thinking back, my teenage years are a bit of a blur. My mom was really ill and I think I felt pressure to not add to the stress in our family, so I actually was pretty tame.

Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why? 

I’d say every teenager should read whatever books grab hold of him/her and won’t let go. I wouldn’t try to force anything, including my version of a must-read book, on a teenager! Reading is such a subjective experience. Choosing a book is so personal.

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say? 

This is just the beginning of your big, wide, rambling life…

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing  about?

Real relationships. Not the pre-packaged, prettied-up variety. Brave, strong connections that push against what we expect and what is expected of us.

Thanks very much for the chance to answer these engaging questions!

Natasha Farrant (Awesome Women)

I'm really happy today that Natasha Farrant is here answering some questions about women and books and role models.  Natasha Farrant is the author the The Things We Did For Love as well as the Bluebell Gadsby Diaries and I have enjoyed them all!  The Things We Did For Love has been repackaged with this pretty new cover as well.

To find out more about Natasha or her books, do visit the following websites:

Natasha Farrant ... Natasha on Twitter ... Natasha on Facebook

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I was born in London and still live there with my husband and my two teenage daughters. I have a brother and two sisters, I’m half French, I speak Spanish, I love travelling, reading and the cinema. I combine writing with my job as a Literary Scout, looking for English language children’s and YA books on behalf of publishers in other countries. My favourite food is smoked salmon on toast, my favourite drink is champagne, and my perfect evening would involve both of those and a good book. 

Did you have a role model growing up?

My aunt. She’s an incredibly strong, hard-working woman who raised her two children alone, while also supporting her artist ex-husband, and maintaining a tremendous sense of fun throughout.  She is one of the toughest, most glamorous, life-loving people I know. She lives in the south of Spain and I stayed with her many times. She made all her morning business phone calls from her bed, smoking and drinking coffee and I wanted to be just like her. She’s the first person who made me realise what it means to take control of your life – that you don’t have to follow the path people expect you to. 

Who do you look up to now?

People of integrity who are true to themselves and their beliefs.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be self-employed (like my aunt) and a writer. And now I am both!

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My family is full of strong, somewhat complicated women. But my aunt (the one above) said to me recently, “I have made a beautiful life”, and I think that is true of all of them. Through war and heartbreak, good times and bad, they have crafted beautiful lives, with home and family very much at the centre.  There have been terrible fights – epic, really – but always, also, so much love and such a sense of belonging.  It’s something I come back to in my books again and again. 

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

It’s a hard call between Atticus Finch (who is true to his beliefs, see above) and Anne Shirley (see below).

Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be? 

Anne Shirley. No question about it. Because of her wild imagination and tendency to get into scrapes. Oh my god, I love her so much. I so desperately wanted to be an orphan and sleep in that bedroom and marry Gilbert.  I went to Prince Edward Island a few years ago and you can visit Green Gables! I wept when I saw it. I even bought an Anne hat (straw boater with red braids hanging down). I’m going to stop now before it gets embarrassing.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

I was awkward, angry, obsessed with being cool and failing miserably at it. But I loved to lose myself either in books or on long solitary walks.  Both were very grounding and helped give me a sense of perspective on my really not at all miserable life. 

Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why? 

A difficult question, since every teenager is different (as my daughters keep reminding me).  I think, To Kill a Mockingbird because it tackles prejudice on so many levels, makes you question what is right and wrong, presents this amazing role model in Atticus, and also because it’s such an incredibly tender story about growing up and letting go.  

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

All those people you think are so sorted are secretly just as insecure as you… Also, do more exercise.

If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose? 

Apart from Anne? Lydia Bennet. Flora Gadsby, from my own books. The whole of Mallory Towers. Probably not all at once though, and assuming I was about 13.

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

I don’t know if there’s any one issue I like to read or write about.  I do feel there’s a real need for strong female characters who take on the world on their own terms – feminine without being vapid, strong without trying to emulate men, at ease with themselves and confident of their place in the world. That’s really important.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just thank you!

Thank you, Natasha!

Joanna Nadin (Awesome Women)

Today I have the great pleasure of having Joanna Nadin, the author of the Rachel Riley series as well as the very recently published YA thriller, Eden, on the blog.  Eden sounds wonderful...

"I wait for my heart to slow and then I begin the game of 'what ifs' and 'if onlys'. What if I could turn back time? Would Eden still stand? Would Bea still be alive?" After her cousin Bea is killed in a house fire, Evie returns to her childhood home of Eden, full of guilt for what might have been. She is not the only one seeking redemption. Bea's boyfriend, Penn, arrives in Cornwall, desperate to atone for a terrible mistake. And as Penn and Evie's feelings for each other intensify, Evie slowly unravels the dark truth behind Bea's tragic death.

If you want to know more about Joanna Nadin or Eden, do visit the following websites:

Joanna Nadin ... Joanna's blog ... Joanna on Twitter ... Joanna on Facebook

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I've had a lot of previous lives and guises. I used to be a lifeguard, then a radio journalist, then an adviser to the Prime Minister. Now I mostly write for children and teenagers, with nearly forty books published in the last ten years. The Penny Dreadful series has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Booktrust Best Book Awards, and the Rachel Riley diaries have been shortlisted for Queen of Teen three times. My latest book is ‘Eden’, a YA thriller set in Cornwall and London in the summer of 1988.

Did you have a role model growing up?

I had many, though they were all fictional. I wanted to be Arabel in Joan Aiken’s series who had a pet raven called Mortimer who ate stairs and dug for diamonds. Or Heidi who slept in a hayloft. Or Velvet Brown who rode the Grand National disguised as boy. As I got older, so did my heroines: Ruth in KM Peyton’s Pennington books, then Dona and Mary in Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Frenchman’s Creek’ and ‘Jamaica Inn’.

Who do you look up to now?

Now I look up to the exceptional women who created these exceptional girls. Daphne du Maurier in particular, whose ‘Rebecca’ and ‘My Cousin Rachel’ have had a huge influence on the setting, characters and language of ‘Eden’.


When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I certainly didn't want to be the writer. I wanted to be in the book. I wanted a life so extraordinary that one day someone would write about it. It took me a while to work out that life didn't always work out like it does in stories, and that maybe the person doing the writing should be me.


Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

I've had the privilege to work with some incredibly brave and principled women in politics, who are working to change the world – and women’s lives in particular – for the better. But the ones who've had the biggest impact on my life are family and friends: my Cornish grandmothers who gave me a love of the landscape and encouraged me to expand my horizons through reading; my best friend from school Helen, who has always reassured me that it’s good to be different; and now my gaggle of writerly friends here in Bath – people like Karen Saunders, Cathy Hopkins, Catherine Bruton, Annabel Wynne and Wendy Meddour. All of whom are supportive, kickass, and an endless source of inspiration, tea and sympathy.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

My current favourite character is Norah in David Levithan and Rachel Cohn’s ‘Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist’, because I wish I’d talked that smart aged seventeen.


Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be? 

I wish I could say Norah but that would be a lie. Or Sally Jay Gorce in ‘The Dud Avocado’. Or anyone in an Evelyn Waugh novel. The closest – aside from Rachel Riley, who is actually me – would be Adrian Mole. But I’d like to be friends with any of the above, because that would mean I would live in New York or Paris or the 1930s, all of which are excellent wardrobe opportunities.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

I was exactly like Rachel Riley – the same absurd hair, the same idiotic little brother, the same desperate wish for a life of tragedy, possibly including living in a squat in Camden with a tortured musician. I didn’t cope, really. I staggered through, making occasional pratfalls and endlessly in love with the wrong boys.


Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why? 

‘The Outsiders’ by SE Hinton. Devastating. And also so you will get the ‘Be cool, Sodapop’ reference in Veronica Mars.


If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

a) They will invent better hair products in the 1990s, so hang in there.

b) Martini is NOT, repeat NOT, a soft drink.

c) Do not let the sixth form gatecrash your sixteenth birthday party. Or let anyone drink olive oil. Or wear stilettoes on the parquet floor. Because twenty-seven years later your mother will still not have forgiven you, and nor will your little brother who will have thenceforth been banned from having a party of his own.


If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose? 

Scarlet and Sad Ed from the Rachel books, who are not only two of my favourite fictional characters, but still two of my favourite people in real life too.


Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

I know there are bigger political issues to grapple with, but mostly I think about and write about identity: the idea of self, of not liking who you are, of wanting to be someone else, or pretending to be. Rachel wanted a life less ordinary; Jude in ‘Wonderland’ wanted to shine bright like her friend Stella; Billie in ‘Undertow’ wanted to know who she was and where she came from; Evie in ‘Eden’ wants the boys her cousin Bea collects. Identity consumes us when we’re teenagers – the area of the brain that deals with self really does go into overdrive as we work out who we are and who we want to be. So it’s not a trivial thing; it’s everything.


Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I’d like to add that, despite me playing down the politics, it’s really important to vote. It does change things. And also wear a supportive bra. My mum was right about that one.

Thank you so much, Joanna! 

Lucy Saxon (Awesome Women)

Today I'm very happy to share with you another Awesome Women interview, this time with the lovely Lucy Saxon the teenage author of YA fantasy, Take Back the Skies! Take Back the Skies will be published  by Bloomsbury on the 5th of June and I was really impressed with the world and political intrigue in this story.  Definitely one to look out for.

To find out more about Take Back the Skies or Lucy Saxon, do visit the following websites:

Lucy on Twitter ... Lucy on Tumblr ... Stormdancers ... Lucy on Facebook

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I’m 19, a huge sci-fi/fantasy fan, and when I’m not writing I’m dedicating far, far too much of my free time to making cosplays to wear at conventions. Seriously, it’s an addiction!

Did you have a role model growing up?

I can’t really think of one particular person growing up that I thought ‘yes I want to be just like them’, but I had a lot of adults around me that I could look up to. And, of course, a slew of brilliant fictional characters to influence my childhood.

Who do you look up to now?

Again, not one person in particular; I look up to a lot of different people for different things. But I really admire John Green, both for his writing and for the way he and Hank have managed to create such an awesome community online, and help so many people with that community.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a vet for most of my childhood, actually! Once I’d outgrown the ‘I want to be a superhero’ phase. There were brief interludes, like palaeontologist (my brother was really into dinosaurs), three day eventing champion, and actress, but vet was the usual choice. It wasn’t until I was about thirteen/fourteen that I realised being a vet would involve watching the animals die sometimes, and then my dream ceased to be.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My mum has, obviously, been the main female influence on me. She was a nurse before she had kids, but stopped to raise my brother and me, so she was the one who took me to my many extra-curriculars and after-school events, put up with me being a horrible bratty monster, did all of those things parents do that kids take for granted, all without complaint. When I wanted to add more extra-curriculars to my week, Mum’s only response was ‘if there’s time for it, you can do it’, and I think that freedom right from a young age was great in allowing me to explore my interests without bias. I was allowed to choose football over ballet with no arguments, which is a choice a lot of little girls are denied.

I don’t think I’ve ever really been lacking in female influences of all types – teachers, friends’ mothers, coaches – and I think I’ve been lucky in that, in having plenty of great examples of women to influence my life, and not one of them that I recall has ever told me I couldn’t do something because of my gender.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

Oooh, that’s a tough one. My favourite fictional character tends to change depending on my mood and what I’ve read most recently, but I’m a big fan of Luna Lovegood. Luna is the kind of person who is completely comfortable in who she is, even though she’s considered weird by the people around her. She doesn’t change to please other people, or deny any part of herself to seem more normal, and I admire that. She gets underestimated a lot because of her ‘loopy’ attitude, but people always forget that she’s a Ravenclaw for a reason!

Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you? And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?

Going to be honest, the first thing that popped into my head for ‘character that reminds me of me’ is Cath from Fangirl. As much as I’d like to say someone cool like Tris Prior or Tessa Gray or someone… yeah, Cath. Though sadly my life is lacking a Levi!

As for best friend, again, hard choice! I think being best friends with Remus Lupin would be very cool. I have a huge soft spot for Remus, and he needs more friends! Failing that, Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass. She’s a badass, and would be great to have as a best friend.

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

I still am a teenager! Though, barely. My childhood had the added challenge of trying to manage Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, as I was diagnosed age 12. So I think a lot of the stereotypical teenage problems passed me by, and I had a whole other set of problems, like attempting to get into school more than once a week. I wouldn’t say I coped well with teenager-hood, so to be honest I think I’ll be glad to see the back of it!

Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why?

There isn’t really one singular book I think every teenager should read, but I think every teenager has at least one book or series that they’d really enjoy, but haven’t read because they’ve been told they won’t like it. Usually because they’re told it’s a ‘girl book’ or a ‘boy book’. So I think every teenager should ignore what people tell them and read that book, because they’re probably missing out on something great. And if they haven’t got a book like that? Maybe they should step out of their comfort zone a little and find one.

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

Drop out of school. I know, I know, terrible advice to give (sorry parents of teenagers reading this!). I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to other people, but in my situation I would have been far, far better off health-wise if I’d just called it quits on school and home-schooled for my GCSEs instead. I made myself really ill trying to keep up with my classmates, and that set me back a good three or four years of recovery time, so dropping out of school when I’d been offered the chance at 13 would have (probably) prevented all that.

If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose?

Ahh, so many to choose from! I think all of the female characters I’ve already mentioned; Luna, Cath, Tris, Tessa and Celaena. I’ll stop myself there, before the sleepover becomes a house party!

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

I really like writing/reading about women who break other peoples’ expectations, whether it’s through gender stereotyping or class stereotyping or whatever reason other people have preconceptions of a character. I like fictional women who prove that they aren’t actually a separate species from the male gender, and should be treated accordingly. But I do want to see more women who wholly embrace the feminine stereotype and still manage to be badass and hold their own. Where are my girls in killer heels and cute dresses, saving the world with perfectly symmetrical eyeliner wings? I think that’s one of the reasons I love Game of Thrones so much; the women in that are just as capable of destroying a king as the men, if not more so, but they do so in fancy clothes with a polite smile on their face, and the men continue to underestimate them. There need to be more examples of different kinds of female strength, which is something I’m really looking forward to writing in future.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

I think people need to be more open with their reading choices, and authors need to be more open with their writing choices. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of writing character types you know people will love, but the more they get written the more likely they are to turn into tropes. I’m not saying don’t ever write them – I’m as guilty of it as anyone else, and sometimes those character types just fit the situation – but if the situation arises, don’t be afraid to bring in some more diversity. People can’t read about diverse characters if no one’s writing them!


Thank you so much for that, Lucy! To be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of Take Back the Skies by Lucy Saxon just leave a comment below with either a Twitter ID or email address. UK only. 

Frances Hardinge (Awesome Women)

I'm really excited today to share with you this lovely interview with Frances Hardinge, the author of many amazing books, including her latest, Cuckoo Song, which was published yesterday.

 To find out more about Frances Hardinge or Cuckoo Song, please do visit the following websites:

Frances Hardinge
Frances on Twitter
Frances on Goodreads
Frances Hardinge's blog

­             Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I'm eternally curious, somewhat restless and always happiest when I'm on the move. I have a deep love of travelling, particularly to countries where my ideas are knocked apart and have to be reassembled in new shapes. I also find it hard to resist anything I haven't tried before, with the result that I've touched noses with a wolf, rafted over a twenty foot waterfall and flown a plane.

I'm a hopeless kidult. The study where I work has nerf guns and water pistols arranged along the hooks on the door. My boyfriend and I have a board game stack that literally reaches the ceiling. An embarrassing number of my clothes are fancy dress or period costume. I can sing the whole of “What's Opera, Doc”.   

      
Did you have a role model growing up?

I always admired Elizabeth I. She may not have been a cuddly idealist, but I had to respect her wiliness, ruthless intelligence and hard­boiled strength of will. At the age of twenty­five she took over a completely untenable position as female monarch of a tumultuous, male-­dominated nation, yet somehow managed to get the bit between its teeth and ride it to victory. She was so incredibly adept at propaganda that centuries later we're still buying into the image she designed for herself.


­             Who do you look up to now?

I've accumulated plenty of other heroes since.

Mary Kingsley, a Victorian explorer who spent several years wandering the jungle in full gentlewoman's dress, discovering new species, making friends with cannibals, falling into spiked pit­traps and bashing crocodiles on the nose for being ill­mannered enough to try to eat her.

Kipling once said of her: “Being human, she must have feared some things, but one never arrived at what they were.”

Raoul Wallenburg, who saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews during World War II using nothing more than charm, dodgy diplomatic paperwork and nerves of steel. It's truly sad that he didn't survive the war. However, thanks to him, a very large number of other people did.

Nancy Wake, a spy who worked with the French Resistance during WWII. The Gestapo called her “The White Mouse” because of her knack for slipping through their fingers, and put her at the top of their most wanted list, with a five million franc reward on her head. It didn't help – she lived to be 98.

Hugh Thompson, Jr, a helicopter pilot who intervened at My Lai to stop fellow US soldiers massacring Vietnamese civilians. Defying your own side on a matter of principle takes a special kind of guts.
­            

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a writer, an artist and an international spy. Well.. I'm now a professional writer, and I spent some time working as a graphic designer, so that I suppose that's two of the three. As for whether I became an international spy, I could tell you about that, but then I'd have to kill you. And everybody else who reads this blog.


­             Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My mother gave me my first book when I was a baby. It was made of cloth, and apparently I chewed it for a bit. She proceeded to introduce me to a whole slew of other books as I grew older, and I treated those with a little more respect. She was always highly original, creative and imaginative, with a decided subversive streak.

My sister Sophie is only eleven months younger than me, and we had a huge influence upon each other growing up. The two of us constructed elaborate imaginary worlds, wrote plays with scripts and backdrops, created tiny newspapers and fought like blue fury. Sophie is a hardcore traveller, and still gets bouts of malaria as a result of several years spent intermittently working for a charity in Madagascar. She is generous, audacious, uncomfortably honest and very funny.


­             Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

My favourite character varies depending on my mood, but I do have a soft spot for likeable but ambiguous tricksters, such as the Cheshire Cat, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Puss in Boots, the Golux, the 'Stainless Steel Rat' and Flambeau in the Father Brown stories.


­             Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?   And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?


A part of me (probably the best part) is a little like Snufkin from the Moominland books. It's the part of me that remembers that the world is beautiful, and that you can miss it if you fall into a rut, or lose yourself in worries about things that aren't really important. It's the traveller in me, but it's also the part which has come to terms with my own oddness, and no longer fears judgement. Snufkin would make an amazing friend. I would love to wander the world with him a while, watching new horizons unfold.



­             What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?



I was intensely shy, decidedly weird and something of a loner. One goes through a lot of emotional turbulence as a teenager... and I kept most of my feelings to myself. I think I believed that my 'job' in the family was to be self­controlled and reliable, so I worked very hard at that. I was terribly earnest and a worrier, and bottled up a lot of my feelings. I only really relaxed once I reached university. Spontaneity and irresponsibility are talents I've developed since becoming an adult.



­             Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why?


I wouldn't wish to do that. Teenagers are all different. Each probably has a book that they 'should read' and which will speak to them. These won't be the same book.



­             If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?


Everything gets better. Hang on in there.

Carry on being true to yourself. 'Weird' is fine.



­             If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose?


Hmm, perhaps I could have a 'formidable Victorian females' sleepover! I could invite Marian Halcombe from The Woman in White, Jane Eyre, Alice from Alice in Wonderland and the adventuress Irene Adler from A Scandal in Bohemia. An evening of subversion and crumpets...



­             Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?


The female right to education is an issue that always interests me. I am acutely aware that I have been allowed opportunities that countless girls and women deserved but were denied over the centuries. Of course in many places, the fight for this basic right still continues, and the battle sometimes has a death count. Young Malala Yousafzai is indescribably brave to have put herself on the front line at such a tender age.

Thank you so much for that, Frances! Cuckoo Song is now available, do look out for it!

Emma Pass (Awesome Women)

Today sees the return of my Awesome Women feature with an interview with the super lovely, Emma Pass. Emma is the author of two UKYA novels, ACID which was published last year and The Fearless which came out last week.

Both books are tense UK-based thrillers and if you haven't already read either of them then perhaps you should do something about that!  To find out more about Emma Pass or about ACID or The Fearless, do visit the following websites for more information.  And thank you so much, Emma, for taking part!

Emma Pass ... Emma's Blog ... Emma on Twitter ... Emma on Facebook ... Emma on Goodreads

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I grew up at an environmental studies centre near London, surrounded by animals and mad scientist types – the perfect childhood for a very imaginative child! I realised I wanted to be an author when I was 13 and wrote my first novel in maths lessons with my notebook hidden under my work. I studied fine art at university but when I graduated I decided it was time to get serious about writing. These days, as well as writing books, I work part time in a library and live with my husband, who's an artist, and our crazy greyhound G-Dog.



Did you have a role model growing up?

My parents. My dad, an entomologist, ran the environmental studies centre and he and my mum, who's a botanist, both taught there. There's also a very creative side to what they do – my mum is a botanical artist and my dad is a photographer, specialising in close-up images of plants and animals. They have always done work they loved that's very different from ordinary 9-5 jobs, and always encouraged me to be creative, so I was determined that, when I grew up, I would end up doing something I loved too. 

Who do you look up to now?

Too many people to name! I find anyone who is brave enough to follow the path they want to take in life, even if it's difficult or risky, incredibly inspiring. 



When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was little, I wanted to be a cartoonist or a musician. But I always loved writing stories, too – it just took until I was a teenager to realise that writing books could actually be a job!



Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

I come from a family of very strong women, all of whom have influenced me in one way or another. As my husband says, you wouldn't want to mess with any of them!  

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

My favourite fictional character is probably Emily Byrd Starr from LM Montgomery's 'Emily' books. Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green Gables) is her better known character, but I always found her a bit saccharine. Emily is much more realistic and fiery – and she's a writer! What's not to like?



Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?

Again, it's probably Emily. Even though the books were written and set in the Victorian era, I really identified with her. If she was a real person, we'd definitely be friends.  



What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

I think people thought I was a bit odd. I loved writing and books and I didn't care about being fashionable at all. I was bullied at school and wasn't very happy there, so I used to escape into my imagination at every opportunity. Writing and reading helped me survive.



Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why?

I don't think I can name one specific book. All I would say is, find the books you love and read and re-read them. Books helped me cope with all the ups and downs of being a teenager better than anything else. 



If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say?

Hang on in there. It gets better. And one day – sooner than you think – you will find people who accept you for who you are.

If you could choose to have a girly sleepover with any fictional characters, who would you choose? 

Hmmm… Emily Byrd Starr (of course!), Lyra from His Dark Materials, Sia from Kate Ormand's forthcoming debut Dark Days and Eve from Roy Gill's Daemon Parallel and Werewolf Parallel. Plus loads more – but it would end up being a ridiculously huge list if I named them all!


Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing about?

My husband and I have decided we aren't going to have children – not because we can't or because we don't like them (I actually enjoy working with kids and teens more than adults!), we both just feel that it's not for us. Yet there is still enormous pressure from society for women to have kids, and if you decide not to it's sometimes seen as a bit of an odd choice. So I'm very interested in reading about the issues surrounding that – although I haven't written about it yet! From a writer's point of view, I love to write about independent female characters who can rely on themselves first and foremost.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

This might sound like a cliche, but I think it's really important to be yourself and do what you want to do, not what other people think you should do. You only get one chance at life, so make the most of it!

Thank you for having me, Clover!


Thank you so much for that, Emma. I thought they were brilliant answers!  The Fearless was published by Random House on the 24th April! 

Top Ten Kick-Ass Heroines

So another Tuesday, another Top Ten list, this time my favourite 'kick-ass' heroines.  And before I go any further, a big thank you to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting such a fab feature.

So, kick-ass heroines.  I was all set to write this list and include all of the female characters I'd normally include if I were thinking of 'kick-ass' girls.  You know the ones - Katniss Everdeen, Rose Hathaway, Tally Youngblood, Katsa from Graceling. Maybe Hermione Granger or Tris from the Divergent series.  And then I decided that I didn't want to do a list of these girls.  I'm sure plenty of other people will be writing about these girls and I think that will be enough.

It was actually in The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead, which I was reading recently, where I read something that made me stop and think.  In it, one of the characters was talking about Sydney and said something along the lines of there are other ways to be kick-ass besides being a bad-ass dhampir like Rose.  So in the same vein, I wanted to create a list of normal girls for the kick-ass category.  Girls from contemporary YA novels, in which none of them have any special powers or weapons training.  None of them are part-vampire and none of them have magical abilities to help them along.  And yet they are some truly awesome women nonetheless.

Here is my list of kick-ass heroines from contemporary YA, and just to make things simpler, they are all from books that I've read in 2012.  Enjoy.

Ruby Oliver from Real Live Boyfriends by E. Lockhart

I want a real life Ruby Oliver to come and be my best friend.  For reals. I think she is super awesome with her sassy ways and her weird fashion sense.  Ruby Oliver is definitely kick-ass to me, she's one of my favourite characters ever written and I am utterly sad to have read the final book in the series about her! 

A lot of struggles in the series were about the boys that have circled around her, but she also deals with a fair dose of what else is important - friends, family, herself, music, sticking up for what's right, having the self-confidence in order to go after what you want, the realisation of knowing what will make you happy and not cowering in the face of not so nice people.  Nothing but love for Ruby Oliver!

Echo from Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry

Echo is definitely my kind of kick-ass heroine.  She's going through some rough stuff.  She used to be one of the popular girls in the in-crowd with everything going for her.  And then she's attacked by somebody close to her and afterwards she's left with no memory of the event and nobody giving her any answers either.

But Echo refuses to give up.  So she doesn't have the charmed life she has before.  But with the help of a certain bad boy, Echo continues asking the hard questions, searching for the answers she so desperately needs.  It was very painful at times, reading Echo's story.  I wanted to give her a big hug throughout most of it, but Echo is tougher than she looks and I give her plenty of credit for opening up her heart again after the hurt and betrayal she has faced.

Jeane Smith from Adorkable by Sarra Manning

Ah, Jeane Smith.  She's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.  I've read plenty of reviews along the lines of how unlikeable she is as a character.  Me? I thought she was pretty realistic - moody and emotional and a right cow sometimes. But she's also pretty lonely and dealing with too much stuff for her young age.

I love that she's got this weird fashion sense and that she speaks her mind and that she's incredibly successful and independent.  But that isn't to say that she isn't quite vulnerable at times too and that she doesn't need other people in her life. She quite clearly does.  Asking for help and needing other people? Is pretty kick-ass to me.

Daisy from Saving Daisy by Phil Earle

With Daisy we have yet another broken heroine on my list.  Daisy has gone through some pretty rotten times during the course of this book.  She's lost her father, she's dealing with the guilt of killing her mother.  People in her life that should have had her back have used her terribly.  She has no one left and she's carrying these dark, guilty thoughts.

What I love most about Daisy's story is that bad stuff happens, but things can always get better.  Luckily Daisy has a kick-ass mentor of her own that helps Daisy back to a better place.  But characters like Daisy show us all that we all have the ability to be kick-ass in our own way.  Even if that way is just by not giving up hope.

Cass from A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend by Emily Horner

I really wish that more people knew about Cass and this story.  I haven't seen very many reviews of this book and that is a shame.  I really loved this story and I love the journey, but physically and mentally, that Cass takes.

This book is told in different parts.  On the one hand, we have Cass as she's travelling across country on her bicycle.  Her and her best friend were supposed to take a road trip over the summer but she dies suddenly and her death changes everything!  So on this road trip, we see flashes of Cass and her best friend before dies and we have Cass on this cycling trip trying to deal with her grief and also her confusing feelings about how she felt about her friend.

And in another part, we see Cass as she has come back home after her trip and together she helps this play that her best friend wrote about ninjas and cool stuff. And Cass has to deal with this circle of friends and also Cass' arch-nemesis, the girl who 'outed' Cass years ago. I love how much this book is about friendship and fitting in as well as it is about love and also of confusion about sexuality.  This is definitely one of my favourite books that I've read all year. I really recommend it!

Hazel from The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I never reviewed The Fault in Our Stars because I didn't think that anything that I have to say about the book would be different enough to warrant yet another gushing review of the book.  It's a beautiful book though, and I love Hazel as a character.  She's brave and funny and interesting and I would love to be best friends with a character like her.

It's really quite emotional, this story.  The idea that this girl is facing her own death from cancer, not once but twice in her short life.  She worries about how her family will cope with her loss by focusing on the characters of her favourite novel.  I love Hazel's observations on life and the other people she knows.  Her relationship with fellow-cancer-survivor, Augustus is unbearably sweet.  I honestly can't think of this story or of Hazel and Augustus with tears coming to my eyes.

Carly from Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

It seems that a lot of the girls I've chosen from this list are people who have gone through some bad stuff and have then picked themselves up and moved on.  I really, really believe that doing this is worthy of the term 'kick-ass.'  And Carly is no exception.  At the beginning of Raw Blue she is resigned herself to dropping out of school, working a dead-end job and surfing.  Because surfing is the only thing that allows her to be happy and not obsess over what happened to her two years ago.  Then Carly meets Ryan, another surfer fresh out of jail, and Carly has to decide whether she can do the scary thing and move forward, away from her past. 

When I first started to read this book I really felt like it was going to be a straight forward love story about two sort of broken people, one with terrible memories of the past and the other with the baggage of being in jail.  What I loved about this book is that while Raw Blue does contain that love story, it is more about Carly herself - how Carly is able to take one step at a time to get past the trauma that she suffered.  I love that focus on just her.  

Verity Gallant from Heart of Stone by ML Welsh

It's been awhile since I've said it, but this magical middle-grade series by ML Welsh is one of my absolutely favourite series of recent years!  I LOVE Verity Gallant.  In this sequel to Mistress of the Storm, we see Verity in her seaside town with her friends standing up to more evil.  I love how in both Mistress of the Storm and Heart of Stone, Verity and her friends are up against really powerful, magical and evil beings and they're just regular.  They have goodness and intelligence on their side.  Plus, Verity is tough.  But in her toughness, she still knows that she needs her friends around her.  And I love the friendships that Verity has with Martha and Henry.  I wish I had friendships like these when I was younger and who am I kidding? I wish I had them now. 

One of the things that I love so much about these books are the importance placed on words and books and these Original Stories.  I love that librarians are the biggest force against evil! That made my heart sing.  This book is utterly sweet with a hint of the old-fashioned about it, with strong friendships and adventure and a hint of first love.  Verity and her friends are strong, smart and independent with a strong sense of what's right.  And that definitely makes her kick-ass in my eyes.

Lola from Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I really loved Lola.  Despite having no fashion-sense myself, I really love characters like Lola with a bit of flair about them.  I'm far too shy and uncomfortable in my own skin to make much of a statement and the idea of everyone staring at my outlandish costumes would make my heart pound wildly and my breathing would go all erratic.  But not so Lola, who lives for fashion and for these cool outfits.

But I think what I loved most about Lola is despite the weird clothes, she's very normal.  She's struggling through what we're all struggling through.  Relationship issues, friendships both old and new, what our parents want for us versus what we want for ourselves, wondering who 'ourselves' really are.  Normal girls are still kick-ass!

Anna from Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone 

I almost didn't include Anna in this list because of the element of time travel within Time Between Us, but I figured Anna isn't the one with the magical ability, so she counts as a contemporary YA kick-ass heroine!  And I did so love Anna. 

Anna has been almost nowhere in her entire life.  She's focused on her running and her dreams of travelling the world.  And then she meets Bennett, who is a time traveller from the future.  He has this ability to take Anna anywhere in the world at any time and they fall in love and it's wonderful...

But what I love most about Anna is that she decides not to become that girl who relies on her boyfriend to take her to the places she dreams of, she's capable of doing that all on her own.  She decides not to become that girl who waits around for him in order to be happy.

So there are my top ten choices of kick-ass heroines in contemporary YA.  I'd love to hear who you would choose?