Interview with Annabel Pitcher

Joining us today for Death and Bereavement Week to talk about her debut novel, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, is authorAnnabel Pitcher.

Thank you, Annabel, for writing such a fantastic novel and letting me interview you for Death and Bereavement Week. How did you come up with the idea for My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece?

The idea came to me in a youth hostel in Ecuador, of all places! I was travelling with my husband and, having arrived in South America in the middle of the night, we were too jet lagged to sleep and a little nervous of venturing out of the hostel in the early hours. Instead, we went to the tiny TV room and found a pirate copy of a film about 9/11, which really affected me. The idea for Mantelpiece sort of fell into my head after that, that very night in fact! I started the novel in a notepad and wrote the rest of the book travelling round the world. It was a blissful existence!

Jamie has an incredibly authentic voice, and I fell head-over-heels over how adorable he is. How easy or difficult was it to get into the mind of a ten-year-old?

I found it incredibly easy. Jamie was so real to me – so three dimensional. I have a very strong memory of my own childhood and I have worked with young people in my adult life in various capacities, so it wasn’t difficult to create his voice. Very early in the first draft, I put ‘speech rules’ in place (for instance, Jamie speaks in a very matter-of-fact way, usually in short sentences, with little verb variation) and once I had those parameter in place, creating the rest of the character’s voice was easy.

There are some cleverly woven in issues in My Sister that the reader will understand a little more than Jamie, such as anorexia. Although Jamie doesn’t see the full seriousness of Jas not eating, the reader will, and adds more credibility to the story as we see everyone effected. Was it difficult to insert these issues so that the reader would notice them yet leave Jamie to his innocence?

That’s a good question! Yes, it was at times. I didn’t want Jamie to come across as stupid in any way, so I had to make the references subtle so that the reader could understand why Jamie might not pick up on them, but sufficiently strong for the reader themselves. It was a fine line, and one that took a couple of edits to perfect.

What research did you have to do for My Sister, if any?

There are two very different answers to that – very little and a lifetime’s worth! Very little because I didn’t feel the need to research anything that happens in the story, and a lifetime’s worth due to the fact I put absolutely everything into it, 28 years of knowledge and experience and everything that I’ve ever learned about life. It’s a book about human emotion, loss, love and family, so I wrote from the heart, drawing on my own and others’ experience, rather than looking up facts in books.

Why did you decide to write a story about bereavement for your debut?

I am fascinated by humans – their experiences, their stories, their emotions, their struggle to cope with the things life throws at them – and I suppose death and bereavement exaggerate all of this. However, the bereavement in the novel is very much the backdrop to what is (I hope) just an entertaining and moving story about all sorts of things – friendship, courage, coming of age, acceptance, bullying, love, the list goes on! I don’t see it as a book about bereavement. I see it as Jamie’s story, which just so happen to includes bereavement.

Not only does My Sister deal with bereavement, but also specifically with how terrorism can affect those left behind. Why did you decide to write a novel on the effects of terrorism? Was it hard to tell the story through the eyes of a ten-year-old?

It was important to me to write a contemporary story, set in a world young people recognise. I wasn’t interested in writing a fantasy, or a fluffy romance. I wanted my debut to be hard hitting and real. Terrorism, being such a contemporary issue that we’re all affected by in some way or other, enabled the story to become the raw, true-to-life one that I imagined.

What is your opinion on how YA novels deal with death and bereavement?

I don’t really feel qualified to answer that as I haven’t read a huge amount of YA novels about death and bereavement. However, the one book that qualifies is Before I Die by Jenny Downham, and I was in awe of the writer’s unflinching approach to cancer and grief. It captured the heartache and tragedy of the girl’s death without ever becoming sentimental. It is the most astonishingly real book – a huge triumph.

Were there any books you found dealt well with this topic when you were a teen?

Not really – and if there were, I didn’t tend to read them! I was always more interested in fantasy than I was in reading things that were too harrowing. I do remember Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume, but all I can recall is being gripped and moved by the story; I wouldn’t be able to say if the book dealt well with the topic.

Anything else you would like to add?

Thanks for having me and for your interest in the novel!

Thank you, Annabel, for such great answers! Be sure to check out Annabel's website. What do you think about what Annabel has said?

Continue reading Interview with Annabel Pitcher

Review: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (review copy) - Ten-year-old Jamie Matthews has just moved to the Lake District with his Dad and his teenage sister, Jasmine for a 'Fresh New Start'. Five years ago his sister's twin, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb. His parents are wrecked by their grief, Jasmine turns to piercing, pink hair and stops eating. The family falls apart. But Jamie hasn't cried in all that time. To him Rose is just a distant memory. Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spiderman T-shirt, and in keeping his new friend Sunya a secret from his dad. And in his deep longing and unshakeable belief that his Mum will come back to the family she walked out on months ago. When he sees a TV advert for a talent show, he feels certain that this will change everything and bring them all back together once and for all. From Amazon UK

As much as I liked the sound of My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece, when it came to reading it, I did put it off quite a few times. Why? Because the story was told by a ten-year-old, and in my mind that meant that it was aimed for quite young readers. As I'm not normally a fan of books for younger readers, I was worried I'd be disappointed by this novel. In actual fact, I was completely blown away.

The first thing I need to talk about is just how sweet this book is. Yes there are some pretty bad things that have happened before the start of the book and happen within the book's pages, but it's Jamie's voice; young, ten-year-old Jamie who is telling us his story and has such a brilliant, wonderful, and simple outlook on life, it's just lovely. He finds beauty int he most unexpected places, and love and strength in the most dire of circumstances, he is just wonderful! He explains things in his simple, child-like way, but makes absolute, perfect sense. The voice is just so incredibly real, together with the perfect cover, you can't help but imagine that gorgeous little boy telling you his story, and I wanted to pick him up and give him a hug so many times.

This story was also completely heartbreaking. His sister, Rose, died five years ago, and he doesn't really remember her. Yet his family are still suffering from the grief. His Mum walked out on them, and his Dad drinks himself into a stuper almost everyday. His Dad is completely obsessed with Rose, to the point that she gets a stocking put by her urn every Christmas, and a slice of cake whenever it's someone's birthday. He cannot let go, and everything is about her, to the point that Jamie might as well be invisible.

Jas, Jamie's older sister and Rose's twin, tries hard to give him the care he needs, but at just 15 herself, and going through her own issues, it just isn't perfect. But Jamie finds fun in the absolutely lovely Sunya, the girl he sits next to at school. However, as Rose died in a terrorist attack, his Dad is completely anti-Muslim, so Jamie goes through this inner conflict of wanting to be Sunya's friend, but how can he be when Muslims killed his sister? And when his Dad hates them so much? On top of all this, Jamie desperately, desperately wants to get his Mum and Dad back together and for everyone to be happy again, and he tries so hard.

There are also some other issues covered in My Sister, such as bullying and religions/beliefs, and those that Jamie himself doesn't know are big issues due to his age but the reader will, such as anorexia. In the case of anorexia, although Jamie doesn't realise how serious his sister's eating is, the little glimpses show a bigger picture, how the death of her twin, the abandonment from her mother, and her Dad's drinking affects Jas, and makes the story even more credible. Jamie may not see it, but we do, and understand. With this as one of many examples in mind, yes, this book can be enjoyed by younger teen readers, but it can also by enjoyed by older teenagers and adults alike, it has complete crossover appeal. It's such an amazingly fantastic novel that everyone can find something to enjoy from it.

This really is a beautiful, moving, and heartbreaking story, and at times really difficult to read, but absolutely brilliant. I am completely in awe of Pitcher over how spot on Jamie's voice and how real the story feels. It really does feel like he's talking to you, and you can't help but fall in love with him and want to look after him. This is one little boy I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Thanks to Orion for sending me a review copy.



Published: 1st March 2011
Publisher: Orion Children's Books
Buy on Amazon US
Annabel Pitcher's website

Continue reading Review: My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher