Sunday 25 January 2015

Verity Croker and May Day Mine

Today I welcome Verity Croker to Promote Me Please. Verity, another of the authors I was delighted to meet at the Book an Adventure Children's Literature Festival on Bruny Island, is a fellow Tasmanian. She agreed to answer five curious questions about her new book, May Day Mine.



    1.   Would you tell us a bit about your new book, May Day Mine?

     May Day Mine is set in a mining town and tells the story of how an ordinary family reacts to the unfolding drama as five men are trapped underground due to a mine collapse. Fifteen-year-old Jodi reacts by experimenting with different relationships and her younger brother Jake reacts by getting involved with schoolyard bullies. Their parents experience relationship difficulties due to all the stress and learn to deal with their own past.

    2.   For a reader knowing nothing about the story, the title suggests all sorts of things from a Queen o’ the May romance to a mining disaster story. To what does it refer?

    Both May Day and Mine have double meanings in my story: May Day is the day of the mine collapse but also signals a cry for help, and Mine means both the mine itself and mine as in 'please be mine' or 'he's mine'.

     3. Is your main character, Jodi, based on a real person (or people) you have known?

       Jodi is a totally fictional character; she just presented herself to me and started talking. I'm so pleased with the cover, as the girl looks just how I imagine her to look.

      4. How does Jodi’s problem (no need to be specific) impact on her younger brother?

       Jodi and Jake have the same problem in terms of how to deal with all the tension in the town due to the mine collapse. As mentioned above, Jake joins a gang of bullies who engage in increasingly dangerous antics.

       5  What, if any, truth or idea would you want or expect readers to take from May Day Mine?

    I hope readers would take away the idea of accepting people for who they really are.

      Thanks, Verity!
      You can find out more, or purchase a copy of May Day Mine at 
             www.harmonyinkpress.com   (the publisher)

                or visit Verity at
                   www.veritycroker.wordpress.com  
      
        ABC radio interview with Verity here
  

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