Paula Xiberras
Author Charlotte McConaghy hasn’t been to Tasmania as yet but with an aunty living here is keen to visit. Last year we chatted about the first instalment in her new science fantasy series ‘The Chronicles of Kaya : Avery’
The title of her book and eponymous character, Avery, has a name that means ‘to rule with elf wisdom’ and also means a ‘counsellor, sage and wise’. These definitions fit well in this science fantasy novel, even though the characters that populate the book are not exactly elves but mythical beings nevertheless, Avery is also wise and provides good counsel.
Charlotte’s work is a combination of science fantasy and fairy tale and an amazing fact about this novel, Charlotte confides in me, is that the prologue visited her in a vivid dream! In fact Charlotte said ‘it laid out the story structure’ completely to her.
It would seem fate then that she should write this story down. The poignant theme of the novel is a rule of the world her characters inhabit, that people are bonded to their one true love throughout life and when that one true love passes away so do they. A rule that most do not rebel against until Avery, whose one true love has died rekindles romance with another, who convinces her that instead of giving up on love she will absorb that love and go on to share that love again.
Charlotte said the story is” pure storytelling and involves ‘simplicity’ in telling very human stories but because they are in the science fantasy genre they can involve storylines that might be impossible in the real world. The science fantasy author has devices (dare I say at their fingertips) where they can include melodrama and use metaphor to tell their story and even stretch reality with characters like eight fingered princesses!
One of the threads in the novel includes a possible reference to the fairy tale of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with Charlotte’s characters Rosalyn and Thorne, literally, the Rose and her (much beloved) Thorn.
When I mention this reference to Charlotte says she didn’t consciously make the connection but agrees with Morris Gleitzman’s idea of the ‘magic spaces’ where author and reader meet in their shared interpretation of a text.
Avery is out now published bv Random House.
