David Allan-Petale’s debut novel Locust Summer was shortlisted for The Australian / Vogel’s Literary Award. It is the story of a final harvest—the story of a young man in a place he doesn’t want to be, being given one last chance to make peace before the past, and those he has loved, disappear.
We had the pleasure of chatting with David about his writing journey, book recommendations and more.
Hi, David! Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m a writer, reader and roamer living in Perth’s north with my wife and two young daughters.
For more than fifteen years I was a journalist for outfits like the ABC and BBC, but packed that in to travel the world for five years with my wife, establishing our own marketing business so we could work on a path that took us from South America to South East Asia.
We came home to have our first daughter, then promptly went on an 18-month caravan trip around Australia, coming home two-weeks before the first COVID lockdown. All this time I was writing, with Locust Summer created in some pretty wild places.
When I’m not writing, working or parenting you can find me restoring an old yacht I’ve got in the front yard, or relaxing with a good red wine or single malt.
Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author and the one you can’t stop thinking about!
Ooh I like this question…
I strongly remember being read to by my Nan. Favourites were The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and The Wind in the Willows, which I now read to my kids.
The first books I remember reading by myself were The Famous Five and all of the Asterix books, hunting them down one by one in the school library. I also loved The Iron Giant, and an abridged and beautifully illustrated edition I had of Moby Dick.
The book that made me want to become an author was Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff. It’s non-fiction, but uses fiction techniques. I had never encountered anything like it, and I read and read-read it so much my copy disintegrated. Going deeper, poets like Byron, Keats and Coleridge put fire in my blood and opened many doors to the classics.
The book I cant stop thinking about is four books – Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet, which I first read years ago and have revisited a few times, each move through the cycle revealing new secrets that change everything.
When did you first discover your love of reading?
I come from a family of readers, so it’s always been part of my life.
I read from an early age, devouring children’s books from The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek to Aesop’s fables.
When I progressed to longer stuff like The Famous Five I branched out and read anything I could get my hands on – my local library let me take 10 books for two weeks, and my Mum would make the trek without fail.
I wasn’t allowed to watch anything dark or violent on TV but if it was a book there was no question asked. That’s as it should be!
Your new novel is out now. If you could describe it in five words what would they be?
Heat. Distance. Memories. Pain. Hope.
What can readers expect?
Locust Summer is a coming of age and homecoming story that doesn’t go the way those usually do. It’s a tough and tender exploration of family, rural life, and the incredible beauty and terror of the Australian landscape and our place in it. It has darkness and light, but above all, Locust Summer is a hopeful story of the possibility of creating new beginnings and new meanings, if we have the courage to confront what must be done.
What inspired you to write the novel?
I was bored witless in a travel seminar I was attending in Portugal. So I took out my notebook and started scribbling. A year prior my beloved grandfather had died after a battle with Alzheimer’s. And I was homesick after a long stint living in London.
I wrote a few lines of something that bubbled up – an image of a farm. You can find a remnant of that original idea in this line from Chapter 3:
“The last long miles bumped along an arrow-straight road, heading direct for a place where meridians of sun, soil and water converged in a great estuary of farmland.”
Scribbling away, I basked in the memories I had of working on a wheat and sheep farm as a younger man. Of the good times I spent with my grandfather, the sadness I felt at his fading and then passing, and all the places that had disappeared from my life.
One line became two, and then a paragraph. And then a ten-year-long writing journey.
What were the challenges you faced when writing it and how did you overcome them?
The main challenge was time and space to write.
You might think all that travelling I did was the perfect escape, but it was often very hard to break away, especially when any spare time I had was taken up with work so we could keep going.
So I solved it by getting up at stupid o’clock and getting the writing done first. It’s tough but necessary, and gives your brain just enough fog so the dream state remains a bit, and you can detach easier from any doubts you may have about what’s being typed.
What were the parts of the novel you loved bringing to the page?
My favourite sequence to write was Rowan’s (the protagonist) journey across the salt lake. It’s a pivotal scene, and one where all of the threads start to come together. Evoking the still beauty and stark colours of that landscape was a joy, and the challenge of getting the feelings and atmosphere was one I relished.
What’s the best and worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
The best is write from the heart and forget being published – just do the work, nothing but the work, and leave the rest for later.
Can’t say I’ve had bad advice. I don’t listen if it’s unsolicited! Trust your gut – it never steers you wrong.
What’s next for you?
I’m speaking at plenty of events in the coming months to readers about Locust Summer, sharing the book and celebrating writing. And I’m also working on a new book – something I’ve had in a drawer while the editorial process for Locust was completed.
It takes true stories from my family’s experience of World War two and twists them. I recently worked on it in-depth during a two-week stay at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers’ Centre in the Perth hills, and I’ve also got a stint in an historic property coming up courtesy of the National Trust of WA. So no excuses!
Do you have any reading recommendations for our readers?
Being a bit of a music nerd, I devoured Barry Divola’s Driving Stevie Fracasso. And I’m relishing Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King. Emma Young’s The Last Bookshop is a cracking read that will make you laugh and cry.
For non-fiction, I’m a sucker for military history, and I really enjoyed Max Hastings’ Operation Pedestal: The Fleet That Battled to Malta, 1942. Just an epic war story, hard to believe what people did back then.
