Q: Where did the idea for this book come from?
A: The idea sprang from a summer I spent on the Kapiti coast in 1985, when I too was 10. We stayed in a beach house very similar to the one I describe in the book, and there was a creepy man staying in the house next door. I didn’t have any of the experiences my narrator has in the book, but I never forgot that beach house, that summer, or that man! So it seemed like a great place to start.
Q: Why did you choose 10yo Alix to narrate the story over 15yo Vanessa?
A: I do think 10 is a great age. You’re old enough to have a little bit of freedom and independence but still young enough to be invisible to adults – meaning you are privy to a lot of interesting stuff that would pass over the heads of younger children, and might not be said in front of a teenager. I remember being 10 and thinking the world was this fascinating, magical place, full of possibility. But at 10, my life was very safe and calm. (Something I’m grateful for in hindsight!) When I started writing this book I thought, I’m going to give this little girl a proper adventure.
Q: You made Josh a very honourable young fellow when often teenage boys are portrayed as more dangerous and he was an interesting foil to Stuart. Why did you choose to do that?
A: I have a teenage son! And he is a very honourable young fellow. I’m conscious that boys and men often get a really bad rap in the name of entertainment. But not all boys are thoughtless, and they’re certainly not all predatory. Josh is a young man with integrity who feels he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone else, and I think those are qualities to be admired in anyone, male or female.
Q: How cold is the water on the Kapiti Coast in summer?
A: Hahaha! It can be cold. It’s a fairly exposed stretch of coast. Swimming in New Zealand is generally not for the faint hearted. From memory it was normal to come out of the water shivering, lie down in the sun to try to warm up, and then find yourself horribly sunburned. So it was a difficult balance to strike! The upside of that is that we don’t have nearly as many sharks as you do in Australia!
Q: How important is sense of place to you as a writer?
A: I am learning that it is very important. A Beautiful Family was the first book I wrote in which I allowed myself to lean into setting. Until then I didn’t know if I had what it took as a writer to do the New Zealand landscape justice. I was intimidated by it, and by all the excellent New Zealand writers who have done it before me. But I knew this stretch of coast so well that I thought, why not just give it a try?
Q: Can you describe how you approached creating the compelling atmosphere of the setting we find in the book?
A: I just tried to be very true to what I remembered and especially to how the place felt. Interestingly, I did not visit the setting once in the whole time I was writing the book – even though it is only a two-hour drive away. Instead I wrote from memory. I think that’s what gives the setting its authenticity and also a sense of nostalgia. It’s not really important what the geographical landmarks are. It’s more important to capture the feel of a place.
Q: Nostalgia was an underlying theme. Was that something you wanted to convey?
A: I don’t think the nostalgia was intentional – it crept in. It was a very happy time in my life when my extended family came together and life felt simple and easy. It was also a golden age of music and cinema and it felt natural to explore that in the book, especially as the narrator is so young.
Q: Sisterhood, family and childhood also are central themes. What made you want to explore them?
A: My own childhood was heavily shaped by books. My mum was constantly feeding me books she thought I would like. Then, by the time I was writing this book, I had children of my own who were also big readers. So in a way I think it was natural for me to write about childhood, because that’s where I first discovered the magic of books.
I am also the youngest of three girls, and so I know how complex that sister dynamic can be. My sisters were pretty well behaved but I still worried about them a lot, and wanted them to be safe. At the same time they annoyed me endlessly and I’m sure I annoyed them too! It’s a strong bond but often a fraught one. An endless source of material for a writer!
Q: The characters are complex and well layered, as a writer, how do you approach making them believable?
A: I just try to put myself in their shoes. Every character, no matter how small. For that brief time that they are on the page, they need to come to life. It’s part of the fun of writing. I never think of a character as a prop or a tool. They are a person and they need to come to the page with a personality. That doesn’t mean I do endless amounts of research into the backgrounds of my characters or anything like that – it’s more of a gut feeling I have. If I don’t feel it – if a character isn’t coming to life – I scrap them because I think it means they’re not supposed to be in the book.