#LoveOzYA Cover Reveal & Author Interview: My Father's Shadow by Jannali Jones

My Father's Shadow by Jannali Jones

Released: 1st August 2019

Published by: Magabala Books

Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller

Source: Publisher

Pages: 232

Goodreads | QBD | Booktopia

Kaya is completing her Higher School Certificate when she is woken in the middle of the night by her mother. They are to pack immediately and go to their holiday home in the Blue Mountains.

Her father is ‘not coming back’. He has been involved in a court case to give evidence against some dangerous criminals. Months later, they are still in hiding and the mysteries are multiplying. Kaya is not sure who to trust: her mother’s new friend, the policeman or her new friend, Eric, from the local store. She is also recovering from memory loss caused by PTSD after a chilling encounter with the criminals.

She is seeing a psychologist in an attempt to recall the evidence she might have to give in a forthcoming trial. Her best friend, Jenna, has gone overseas and Kaya is trying to make sense of what is really happening. Jannali Jones has crafted a thrilling story which stays on the edge right to the end.

I'm always excited to see books being released by debut Australian authors. Today I have Jannali Jones, winner of the 2015 'black&write!' Indigenous Writing Fellowship stopping by to talk about her first YA novel - watch out for more news on a giveaway soon...

Hi Jannali, congratulations on having this book published! Please tell us a little about it and how you came up with the storyline?

Thank you! I'm so excited to be able to share my writing with the world.

My Father's Shadow is a mystery/thriller about a teenage girl, Kaya, who is forced to flee her home when she learns that her dad - a whistleblower - has been murdered. She finds herself living in a tiny community in the mountains with her mum, isolated by her mum's strict, anti-social rules in a bid to keep her anonymous and safe from the men who came after her father.

The initial idea for the book came from an image I had of a girl sitting in the passenger seat of a car that was driving dangerously along windy mountain roads at night. All the while the driver, her mother, crying uncontrollably. That sense of fear, of dread, of something being so horribly wrong to put those characters into that situation, I found really intriguing. That's an image we see in the prologue, and the story grew from there.

You were the 2015 winner of the Black&white! Fellowship which saw your first novel published. What were your dreams as a child and how much of it involved becoming a published author?

From very early on I wanted to write books. I was inspired by all the reading I did - I was a real bookworm! I was quite sick when I was young and my mum used to read to me while I sat on the bed with my ventolin mask on. From grade 1 or 2, all the way through high school and law school I always wrote in my spare time.

Of course I wanted to be other things at different points - a policewoman, a doctor. The astronaut idea stuck for quite some time. When I was older I dreamed of being an actress, then a film composer or professional flautist. I would have loved to play the flute professionally but in the end I felt that I had more of a natural ability with writing whereas other things like music were much more of a struggle.

My Father’s Shadow is set in the NSW Blue Mountains. What is your connection with the mountains that made you so beautifully and vividly describe its surrounds in the book, and why did you feel it the perfect setting for Kaya and her Mum’s hidden life?

I grew up in Adelaide and we lived in the foothills across the road from Cleland, a national park. I loved living there - having all my friends a short walk down the road, a real community feel with neighbourhood bonfires and Christmas parties, browsing through the little mobile library that parked nearby our house, having fires in our combustion heater on cold nights, seeing kangaroos, echidnas, and koalas right in our backyard. It was a great place to be as a child. The Adelaide Hills are much smaller, but whenever I've visited the Blue Mountains it's always reminded me of my old home.

The mountains are a very important feature in the book and I wrote them to be almost a silent character. The moods of the mountains shape or reflect the action of the book. They also form the metaphorical walls of the prison Kaya and her mum have built for themselves. The setting always seemed right because of the isolated feeling of the northern side of the mountains (as opposed to the southern side where you get Katoomba, Leura and many of the tourist destinations). It made sense that people not wanting to be found might be hiding somewhere in amongst the national parks. It is so beautiful and yet so dangerous. That's the double-edge Kaya and her mum are living on.  

As an author of YA, how important do you think it is to shine a light on the struggles we all went through as teenagers? Kaya is going through both trauma and PTSD while she is struggling for her HSC. Was that storyline difficult to write and what you do feel readers will get out of it?

I had a terrible time as a teenager at school and I legitimately believed I was alone in my suffering. It wasn't until I got a bit older that I realised being a teenager actually sucks for most people, and it's a period of life that you just have to get through. It's like life's hazing you - externally and internally. Most of the books I read as a teen had really strong female characters who took challenges in their stride. On the one hand I think that presents great role models and can be inspirational, but on the other hand I felt isolated and weak as I grappled with depression, self-esteem and sexuality. I think being able to see characters reflect a similar identity or similar issues is very important and helps to boost confidence.

I live with (thankfully mild) trauma due to some events I went through as a child. Parts of Kaya's struggles mirror my own, and that wasn't difficult to write as I could draw on my experience, but Kaya is in a much worse position than me. I researched PTSD and decided to pepper it throughout the story rather than having it be the main focal point. My experience with trauma (and of course it is different for different people) is that it doesn't define you, but it is always there, just waiting for the chance to emerge. Yet Kaya is a survivor and I think her weakness actually shows her strength.

You are very passionate about preserving your Indigenous culture through storytelling. What else can we look forward to from you?

I want Aboriginal Australian culture to be more accessible to the mainstream, and I would love to help do this through mixing different literary genres. Currently I am working on a magic realism YA novel set in the Northern Territory. There's also a crime fiction novel cooking away in the background. Watch this space!

About the author

Jannali Jones is a Krowathunkoolong woman of the Gunai nation. She holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Technology, Sydney. Jannali was a winner of the 2015 black&write! Indigenous Writing Fellowship and an inaugural recipient of Magabala's Australian Indigenous Creative Scholarship. Her stories have been published in literary journals in Australia and overseas, including Overland, Southerly, the Review of Australian Fiction and Westerly. When not writing, Jannali enjoys spending time with family, video gaming, going to the movies and reading.