A book I really love and have read many times is Road Story by Australian author Julienne van Loon. Using raw, concise language the author describes the demise of two young women’s friendship, alternating between contemporary life in inner Sydney – drug use and drifting misfi ts – and life at a lonely highway truck stop in the Outback. Menace lingers in ordinary, everyday situations. It’s a mystery, a tale of love between friends, and an exploration of substance abuse. When I fi rst read it I was intrigued by how the story fl ips between two narratives: the girls’ friendship leading up to a car crash; and the events that occur after the accident. Female characters in
Road Story either rely on weak men or idealise women who are in
relationships. The spinster has traditionally been reviled in literature, and while Road Story does not pity or ridicule single women, they are marginalised. I’ve noticed this trend in recent literary fi ction; I think it refl ects a level of social anxiety about singleness. I was conscious of this
when creating the single women in Bay of Fires, and it prompted me to emphasise the characters’ self-reliance.
Poppy Gee’s debut, Bay of Fires, is out now, published by Headline Review
JACK WOLF ON HISTORY AND MAGIC
Neil Gaiman’s Stardust lay on my bedside table for a year while I was writing my fi rst book. I love the way Gaiman takes a traditional faerie-tale format and unapologetically places it in Victorian England.