Books for our older readers are just as important as for our younger ones because whether they already have a love of reading, or need something else that isn’t revision or screen time, down time is just as important as learning, but the best thing about fiction books is that you can learn and relax at the same time.
I interviewed the lovely Jennifer about her young adult books with protagonists of 16 and 17.
Please tell us about your books?
My two young adult +++ novels ( I sincerely believe YA is just the starting age as just as many adults as teenagers read mine) came out just within a year of each other so it’s been a hectic and exciting time!
Igloo was my debut – a coming-of-age with romance set in the French Alps and Lancashire; Happiness Seeker, which came out on 1 Nov 23, couldn’t be more different – it’s a thriller-mystery-love story set over one week’s school trip to the lethal Morecambe Bay. I’d written Happiness Seeker over some years before Igloo was published so was over the moon when my publisher, Beaten Track, offered to publish it, following nine months of intense revision.
It’s setting that sparks off a story with me, that gives opportunities and inevitabilities for the plot which follows. Both books have a first person, strong female narrator, Nirvana, 16 in Igloo and Alithea 17, in Happiness Seeker.
The inspiration for Igloo was the tiny village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps where my family and I were fortunate to own a small chalet for some years, whilst we lived in France. My sons used to build igloos, which I began to see as a place as refuge and haven for those who use them. I thought, What if you met someone in a space as small as an igloo, and thus the story gradually grew. I very much wanted it to be a Christmas/winter story as I’m a big Christmas fan, so it features lots of snow, mountains, sledging, snow-shoeing, husky dog rides and midnight trysts under shooting stars. At the same time, it involves some elements of philosophy and some deep themes about having the courage to be your true self when your family and school have different intentions for you.
Happiness Seeker is set in Grange-over-Sands in Morecambe Bay, a place I’ve visited since being a small child, and more and more frequently once my parents moved there. I gradually learnt more and more about this unique and glorious tidal estuary which has offered many people livelihoods through fishing over the years but has also taken hundreds of lives. As a Drama and English teacher, I thought, what if – what if the group of teenagers wasn’t all sensible like my students, but tore up every rule in the book. I also gathered a dark and serious issue at the heart of the book, with which the anti-slavery charities Unseen and Hope for Justice advised me on.
So, it’s probably apparent in terms of plot and genres that my novels couldn’t be more different: it’s only a little spoilery to say that Igloo has a suitably happy ending, whereas Happiness Seeker is a tragedy, involving a dark and serious political problem. But I do have my own voice and between us, my publisher and I came up with.
Immerse yourself
Feel intensely
Think anew
What do your readers learn from your books?
I’d like to think my readers learn from both books about the courage, costs and rewards of true to yourself and being your best self.
It’s taken me some years to come to publication, with the small but brilliant Beaten Track Publishing and I’m enjoying every moment of it. I take both books into secondary schools and am relishing combining my English teaching expertise with my writer’s training ( through an MA in Creative Writing at MMU and mentoring with the Golden Egg Academy) in some specialist writing workshops.
To find out more, click on the website below or follow Jennifer on social media.
Website: https://jennifer-burkinshaw.com/
IG: @jennifer.burkinshaw
X: @JenBurkinshaw
Tiktok: @jenbwriter
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