Shirley-Anne McMillan is the author of the new young adult novel Grapefruit Moon. Her other books include Every Sparrow Falling. She is the Children's Writing Fellow at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Q: What inspired you to write Grapefruit Moon, and how did you create your characters Charlotte and Drew?
A: Grapefruit Moon began as a little daydream I was having about the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. I thought I’d like to write a story where a boy met the ghost of Lorca in a cave in Granada.
I wrote this scene down and then later it became part of the story when Drew and Charlotte go to Spain on a school trip, but it didn’t make the final edit of the book. As is often the case, the story grew around the initial thought and became something bigger.
As I was thinking about the novel I also knew that I wanted to write something about how warped views of masculinity and femininity tend to make life difficult for everyone. I didn’t want to leave boys out of that so I knew I had to have two narrators: a boy and a girl.
At the same time we had a huge news story happening in Northern Ireland which became known as the Rugby Rape Trial, where some members of the Ulster Rugby team were accused of raping a young woman.
During the trial the evidence was widely shared on social media and some of the language being used among the young men on their Whatsapp chats was really shocking, but people also knew that it was very common.
As my ideas about the characters grew I knew I wanted to incorporate something about this culture where to fit in you might have to be part of something really damaging.
Having these strict gender rules and fobbing off misogyny as “banter” is really bad news for everyone and can lead us to some really dangerous places.
I wanted the two main characters, Charlotte and Drew, to be good people – young people who were just trying to do their best and be happy.
I wanted Drew to really struggle with what kind of man he wanted to be, because I think it can be difficult for boys to maintain close friendships within this culture which values “banter,” often at the expense of girls and women.
Drew is growing up – he knows he has to be a better person, but it’s hard and sometimes he messes up. It was important to me that he felt like a real person – likeable and redeemable, but not perfect.
With Charlotte I wanted to write someone who looks like they have it all: beautiful, clever, wealthy. But she has this thing that happens to her which she can’t do anything about and can’t tell anyone about, so her life is far from perfect but she doesn’t know what to do.
I wanted her to be a really good person and I also wanted her to be someone who found a way through – someone who could say “The worst thing happened to me and I survived, but not only that...”
I wrote Grapefruit Moon in 2020 and sadly things haven’t got any better since then in terms of misogyny for young people, so I think it’s still a relevant story.
Q: The Kirkus Review of the novel says, “Both teens reckon with forces beyond their control, and McMillan depicts with clarity the aggressions, small and large, of the classism and patriarchy that wear down their spirits.” What do you think of that description?
A: I was so happy with the Kirkus review. Obviously it’s a great review by an established magazine, and that alone would make me happy, but what meant the most to me was that I really felt they had understood what I was trying to do with Grapefruit Moon.
The phrase that stood out to me was “deeply human” and I was so pleased by that because that is what I am always trying to go for in all my writing.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: I tend to choose novel titles when I’m part way through a book or at the end of it. It comes from a poem by Lorca called "In The Garden of Lunar Grapefruits." It’s a poem about paths not taken, where the speaker is wondering about all the lives he didn’t live.
My story is about making choices, large and small, and taking responsibility for the situations that you find yourself in, not being too afraid of regret, not dwelling on your mistakes or the lives you could have had.
The moon features as a symbolic image in the story and on a personal level I just wanted to include it because it’s one of my links to Lorca, who was obsessed with the mystery of the moon, as many of us are today.
Q: Most of the novel takes place in Belfast, but one section is set in Spain. Can you say more about why you chose that location, and how important is setting to you in your writing?
A: Lorca’s work features strongly in the story and when I was initially thinking of that ghost scene that I mentioned before it had to be set in Spain.
Although that scene was changed I kept the school trip to Granada in the story because it’s one of the most important parts. It’s a real turning point for the main characters – they make some big decisions – something wonderful happens, and something terrible. I wanted to take them out of their school and out of the country for that.
School trips can be transformative for relationships between young people and also their relationships with their teachers: everyone has the same friendships but you’re in a different context with different itineraries. When you throw in a culture change as well, it can be really special.
I wanted the Granada of the story to be a bit mystical – it’s a stunning city in real life and very different to Belfast, so when you’re there you do get that feeling of being slightly out of reality or out of time, and Lorca’s work has this brilliant quality of being so real and so human while also having this folk-magical symbolism and mystery.
I wanted the part of the story in Granada to have a similar feel – their lives are radically changed by that trip, and that’s real, but I wanted them to also have a kind of spiritual experience there too, as if those two aspects of life were one thing because of this amazing place.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have a YA novel coming out with O’Brien Press in 2027. I can’t say much about that yet but it’s something I’m really happy with and it’s a little bit different to the ones I’ve written before.
Right now I’m currently working as the Children’s Writing Fellow at Queen’s University in Belfast and I’m writing some short stories, which is another change for me and something that I’m really enjoying.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: You can find me on Instagram @shirleyannemcmillan.
If schools or youth organisations would like to work with me they can contact me through the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast. I’m there for one more year and open to all sorts of projects involving young people reading and writing.
I also have a presentation about Lorca’s play Yerma and its relevance to both Grapefruit Moon, my life as a writer, and young people today. https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/seamus-heaney-centre/
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment