The Testament of Jessie Lamb (34 page)

That was the earliest starting point; Kazuo Ishiguro's
Never Let Me Go
was also very influential, both in his notion of setting a story a little outside of our own time, and in his exploration of ideas of sacrifice/self-sacrifice and attitudes to death. Once I had decided upon a teenage protagonist, I read a lot of first-person teen voices, and the one that was most helpful and influential was
The Diary of Anne Frank
—I wanted to try to capture exactly the same sense of a world in crisis, of impending tragedy, but also of irrepressible youth and optimism, and joyful interest in detail.

John Wyndham's
The Chrysalids
, with its vision of a group of youngsters pitted against the adult world, and a strong and likable first-person voice, was also important to me.

Finally, I guess each novel I have written is partly in reaction to the previous one: in
Island
I worked with the first-person voice of a strong but damaged (some would say deranged) young woman, and in
The Voyage Home
the female protagonist is a passive victim: I wanted Jessie to have the courage and idealism these women lacked.

October 2011

D
on't miss the next book by your favorite author. Sign up now for AuthorTracker by visiting
www.AuthorTracker.com
.

Australia

HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

http://www.harpercollins.com.au

Canada

HarperCollins Canada

2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor

Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada

http://www.harpercollins.ca

New Zealand

HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited

P.O. Box 1

Auckland, New Zealand

http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

United Kingdom

HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

London, W6 8JB, UK

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk

United States

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

10 East 53rd Street

New York, NY 10022

http://www.harpercollins.com