Wild Song by Candy Gourlay, reviewed by Dawn McLachlan

First the blurb and some background...

The year is 1904. Luki has lived a tribal life in the mountains of the Philippines. Now she's growing up, she is expected to become a wife and a mother, but Luki isn't ready to give up her dream to become a warrior. When her tribe are offered a journey to America to be part of the St. Louis World's Fair, Luki will discover that the land of opportunity does not share its possibilities equally . . .

The long-awaited companion novel to the Costa and Carnegie shortlisted Bone Talk.

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A good book is one that draws you in and takes you to new places and new experiences. A great book is one that seems to physically place you there and sweeps you away leaving you changed forever. Wild Song is a truly great book.

From the very first pages of Wild Song I felt a profound sense of belonging in Luki's world. Despite my own life experiences being a world away from Luki's I felt that through Gourlay's writing I was there. I was right there in this mountain village in the Philippines in 1904. I was immediately struck by how vivid the text is, and that continues to build as the story develops.

We walk in Luki's footsteps as she makes the decision to leave the mountains and Bontok behind and travel with the charismatic American, Truman Hunt, to Coney Island. Luki and her friends and people from other tribes were convinced by Hunt to leave their homes to take part in the World's Fair. 

It's 1904 and the Philippines is under American rule after the Philippine American War. In the laws and the city there is a presence that aims to control how the population live, think and even how they dress. The influence of America is ever present across the island but in the highlands that influence still feels far enough away to not affect too much of their daily lives beyond the American school. Hunt was one of the American soldiers who remained after the war ended with the intention of getting rich on Philippine gold. He was a showman and essentially a Snake Oil salesman but he managed to build up a trust with the locals and they listened to him. When he told them that President Roosevelt had extended an invitation to them to come and take part in the World's Fair it sounded to many like a grand adventure.

The book takes us on this extraordinary journey across a landscape at first familiar to Luki but then reaches across oceans and the grand sweep of the United States. Luki's voice is strong and clear but from our cynical perspective (and with the benefit of hindsight) we fear for her and for the people around her as they are transported to become part of the World's Fair exhibits.

I feel like this book is the perfect example of how literature can teach us something new, but Gourlay does this in a way that is never heavy handed and the novel remains soundly enthralling and readable. The book is beautifully written and is lavishly descriptive but never florid. The characters are utterly convincing and express so much of their history, rich culture and identity without ever drowning the reader in wasted dialogue or exposition. 

I was bowled over by Wild Song and when I put it down I was changed by it. I felt introduced to a part of history that was completely new to me but one that I immediately researched and found out more. I missed Luki and Samkad and their friends as soon as I closed the book. So vivid was this book that a few days on I find I'm still thinking about them and their mountain village. I really hope that there will be more from Luki, Samkad and their family and friends. I love to think that we might follow this community through the next century and right up to the modern day. I can't help thinking that this book would make the most extraordinary film or tv series. In my mind's eye I travelled a hundred years back in time, half way around the world, over the wide pacific ocean, and across the empty expanse of the American West and Heartlands with Luki - and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

A truly remarkable book that I know will gain a well earned place on many award lists over the coming year. 

Wild Song by Candy Gourlay will be published by David Fickling Books in March 2023

Cover illustration by Leo Nickolls

Reviewed by Dawn McLachlan (aka Dawn Finch), author, poet, and former children's librarian

I am sent dozens of books throughout the year by publishers and book creatives seeking reviews. I never give bad reviews because I only review the books that I feel passionately about. If you would like me to read your book with a view to reviewing it please contact me first via my twitter account. My direct messages are always open.

@dawnafinch

Latent Processing by Vanessa Harbour

Forgive me this is going to be a brief post. It’s been a struggle. I am feeling positively discombobulated. I am currently overwhelmed by marking but also last night’s ‘statement’ seemed to throw the world off-kilter as we know it. I am not going into the politics of it as this is not the place but it seems to have created a lot of confusion and upset today.

Feeling Discombobulated

The glorious author Kathryn Evans posed the question the other day ‘Is thinking part of writing?’

It made me stop and think (excuse the pun). I had literally just finished writing the first draft of a novel, so had been emersed in the process. It seemed an ideal time to consider her question.

I realised how much thinking I do when writing.  

When I am developing an idea, I make notes and I mull over the concept for quite a while before I start putting pen to narrative.

While I am in the process of writing, I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I am not writing. In the shower, doing the ironing, going for a walk. I will be contemplating the scenes I am currently writing or the chapter I am about to start. It is often during these moments that I will get inspiration for an exciting new element or it will be as simple as I will realise that if I add something into an earlier scene it’ll make the next chapter even more exciting or just make more sense.

Now I have finished that first draft, I am thinking again. Thinking about the areas I know I need to develop. I have set the manuscript aside while I finish the marking, but it is still there at the back of my mind. Niggling away.

Imogen Cooper always calls it latent processing. And it never stops.

So in answer to your question my dear friend Kathy, thinking is definitely part of writing. I agree.

Candy Gourlay, Kathy Evans and me! Happy Times

Do you all do lots of thinking too when writing?

Dr Vanessa Harbour

@VanessaHarbour

www.vanessaharbour.co.uk

http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.com

Making Hay, by Sophia Bennett

Last week I had the wonderful experience of being invited to speak at Hay. It's my third visit, and each one is special in its own way. 

This time, the specialness started as we pulled up at our B&B, where we were met by the curious chickens. They came to check us out every time. Not sure we passed the first inspection. 

 This, I kid you not, was our bath.

But it wasn't just about the creature comforts. There were also books to be discussed, in a big tent (actually lots of big tents), in a field (probably lots of fields - but hard to tell, under the tents) in a village on the border between England and Wales, and most definitely heaven. 

Talking of which, the first talk I went to was by Ben Lewis, talking to Kirsty Lang, and was all about Jesus. Or rather, Leonardo da Vinci's painting of him in the Salvator Mundi. Or WAS it Da Vinci? That's what Ben's book is about. By the end we all agreed that nobody really knows, but it's probably about 20% da Vinci. Great hand, though. A hand by the hand of the master, probably. Great talk.

And the following day (after we'd tried out the bath), we were back in a big tent with Kirsty again, who was talking to Horatio Clare this time about a walk he did in Germany, in the footsteps of JS Bach. If you ever get the chance to listen to Horatio, do. (He's on Radio 3, so not hard to find.) He has a voice for broadcasting, a beautiful turn of phrase, innate hope about the natural world, and always something interesting to say. As an audience, we were gripped. Afterwards, Horatio signed for nearly two hours. (I bought 2 copies of 'Something of His Art'. Check out the gorgeous cover on the link.)

And then there was the Artists' Room, where we were treated like royalty. I didn't spot any actual royalty (although it's been known), but did see Michael Gove, Jeanette Winterson, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (who kindly signed my copy of 'The Lost Words' for me and let me fangirl) and many other Famous Faces. My husband and I had a lovely long chat with Candy Gourlay, who's produced all sorts of content from Hay this year - so if you want to know the full story, follow her on Twitter, her website and wherever else you can find her!

And then it was time to watch Frank Cottrell-Boyce in conversation with Lauren Child. I love to hear about writers and illustrators' artistic process. Lauren said that often a book will take her years to write, putting it away when she gets stuck and coming back to it later when the ideas flow again. She's lost count of how many she's done, so it's obviously working for her. It was fascinating to hear about the way she does collage too - so painstaking. You'd think perhaps it's all digitised now, but it isn't. A lot of the patterns she uses come from the insides of Australian envelopes. So now you know.

I was going to be speaking in the same tent as Frank and Lauren, and it was big! Lots of people! This was my view from halfway back in the audience. I assumed there would be about 20 people for mine, but actually it was pretty full too. Which shows that 1) Hay audiences have great taste and want to know about women in the art world and 2) the great Hay festival organisers are brilliant at getting people enthused. Hooray! (These are my books in the bookshop by the way.)

The sun shone. Not all the time, but enough. Make Hay and all that ...

And then it was time for my event with Claire Armitstead from the Guardian. She was a brilliant, gentle, thoughtful, (prepared!), funny chair. She let me do my thing, talking about some of my favourite artists from 'The Bigger Picture: Women Who Changed the Art World' and what I find fascinating about their lives and work. Claire ended with the quiz from the back of the book - asking the audience some hand-picked questions, which they could now cheerfully answer! Candy was in the audience and took these pictures. Thanks Candy! (My husband was there too but he was too busy cheering - very loudly and embarrassingly - to take a photo.) 

Here he is afterwards. Still cheery. 

And then it was party time. Again, no pictures from husband, so resorting to a selfie to give the general idea.

And this is what it looked like when we got there. I say 'we' - I was sharing the B&B with Jessie Burton, as you do, and we went together. She was LOVELY, and obligingly signed my copy of 'The Restless Girls' after breakfast the next day. If you want a feminist fairytale for older girls, with magnificent illustrations by Angela Barrett, then this is the one. It is odd but nice to share toast and marmalade with your literary heroes. At Hay, that's the sort of thing that happens.

 Home time. Such a beautiful view from the Second Severn Crossing. And a memento: the very last 2017 30th anniversary Hay mug, by Emma Bridgewater, with a fantastic image of Hay by her husband, Matthew Rice. Guess what I'm drinking my tea out of as I write ... 

Sophia Bennett

Creating A Legend - Candy Gourlay

Thank you for coming to the Awfully Big Blog Adventure Online Festival! I'm the 4pm act and I'm very pleased to welcome you to my little session on Creating a Legend in Your Own Time!

Visit the Tall Story website
Art by Sarah McIntyre

In my novel Tall Story, I sewed in myths and legends from the Philippines and elsewhere to add magic to the story of Bernardo, a boy who is eight feet tall.

In the Philippines where I was born, legends were a way of ordinary people explaining the often unexplainable forces of nature around them - the volcanoes, earthquakes, the strange shapes of mountains, caves, the existence of plants and other creatures.

A lot of Filipino folk stories are handed down in the oral tradition - grown ups telling children stories, and the children growing up to tell the stories to their own children.

And every time a story is told, the teller adds his own spin to the story, so the story is always changing. It's a very exciting process!

In the video, I tell The Legend of the Bellybutton - as imagined by me and a group of children at the Hay Literary Festival after a hilarious brainstorming session.

Photo by Another Sergio
(Creative Commons Attribution)

It was just one of many legends we made up in that hour we spent together. We had great fun - we must have written 20 legends in one hour!

It's easy! And it's so much fun!

1st Choose something to make a legend about. It can be anything at all! 

eg. The Legend of the Nose

Thanks to Jon-Eric Melsæter on Flickr
(Creative Commons Attribution)

2nd Decide how things used to be. 

eg. People didn't have Noses. So they couldn't smell anything. So they didn't enjoy eating because they couldn't smell food. And they thought flowers were boring because they couldn't smell how lovely they were. And they themselves smelled bad because they couldn't smell themselves.

People became very grumpy

3rd Something happens to bring your something about!

eg. Someone tripped and grew a bump on their face. Then tripped again and got holes in the bump. And then discovered that they could smell food and flowers (they also began to wash). And everyone became so jealous they went out and accidentally on purpose tripped over too!

And that is why we have noses!

Thanks to Bazusa on Flickr (Creative Commons Attribution)

If you're a teacher or a librarian and you fancy creating legends with your own posse of children, check out my Legend in Your Own Time download on my website!

Thank you!



Other downloads you might enjoy:

• Discussion Guide for Classrooms and Book Clubs

• Fact File About Gigantism

• So Many Armpits Poster

• Cool Teacher's Guide for Children's Book Week

Find out about me on CandyGourlay.com and my blog, CandyGourlay.blogspot.com
And more about Tall Story and the Philippines on TallStory.net