Introducing a strong and determined protagonist with Down syndrome, debut author Mel Darbon gives readers an underrepresented but much-needed point of view with a voice-driven, heartfelt story of finding your place an often big and intimidating world.
We had the pleasure of chatting with author Mel Darbon about her debut novel Rosie Loves Jack, writing, book recommendations, and so much more!
Hi, Mel! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi there – it’s lovely to be given this opportunity to connect with my readers, so thank you so much for this interview.
I was born in the sixties in London and grew up in a time of great innovation and it was a time when Feminism began to find a voice in society and women were able to access higher education and strive for more equal opportunities. My mother was very much a part of this movement and has greatly influenced how I feel about women’s roles in society.
I have five brothers, one who has impacted who I am more than any of the others because of his severe developmental disability. I love him with all my heart, and he helped make me the person I am today because he taught me more about empathy and love than anyone else ever could have.
My father is a writer and I realised from a very early age that that is what I had to do too – though it took me many years to finally give myself permission to do that. If it wasn’t for my children telling me to hurry up and write my book before it was too late, I might never have had the courage to do it professionally!
I am married and have three wonderful children, two girls and a boy and my first grandson who is two years old. He told me recently that, “In the olden days I used to be a fish”, and “when I grow up I’m going to be a spider” and, yes, he really is only two! I think we might have another writer in the family.
I live at the top of a hill, in a town called Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire that is rich in Medieval history. I look out over the town to Salisbury Plain and the horizon. Being able to see that far gives you a better idea of where you are placed. I am lucky because every morning at dawn I watch two Peregrine Falcons hovering on the air currents, their wings edged pink by the sun. They live on the steeple of the old Saxon church, and the spire peeps through the trees below us. Then at dusk I watch the bats flitting past our window, dipping and diving through the clouds of insects that they come to dine on. And at night, when I can’t sleep, I listen to the owl hooting as she swoops across the Yew trees in the churchyard. All this is wonderful inspiration for my writing.
Having a brother with a developmental disability has meant that for me as a writer I always wanted to be able to give a voice to those people who otherwise might never be heard. I passionately believe that we all deserve to be heard and we all deserve to see ourselves represented in books. Hopefully, through my books, I might help my readers see the world through new eyes and help dispel the myths of disability.
How has the first half of 2021 been for you?
It’s been mixed, as it has been for us all living through these strange and difficult times. It has been particularly hard because I couldn’t see my family and missed out on my grandson’s first and second birthdays, as they lived abroad until very recently. It’s also been hard not being able to see my brother, as we are extremely close. He hasn’t been able to make sense of any of the Pandemic and has been very distressed by it all. Sadly, he is now very ill in the intensive care unit in hospital, and I am not allowed to visit him. So many people have had to go through this, and I feel for every one of them.
Professionally, it has been exciting that my second book has been edited and is coming out early next year, particularly since it is a dual narrative written between a teenage boy with autism, based on my brother, and his sister, based on me! I am also writing my third YA book and a Middle Grade story that earned me a place on my MA course at Bath Spa University. I had intended to write that story on the MA but my character Rosie, in Rosie Loves Jack, wouldn’t leave me alone.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
My grandmother taught me to read at a very young age and the first book I remember reading by myself was when I was three years old. It was called Chicken Licken Sky is Falling on Your head and is about a little chick who is playing in the yard when an acorn falls on her head and she thinks the sky is falling and runs off to tell all the other animals on the farm. I think I drove everyone a bit crazy, as I insisted on reading it out loud to them all the time!
I wanted to be an author from as far back as I can remember, but the book that made me realise that I had to write was The Inheritors by William Golding.
It was introduced to me by my A level English tutor when I was 16, with the words “You will think this book is brilliant, but you probably won’t know exactly what you’ve read.” She was right but I wasn’t unique in this experience. It’s a book that the more you read it, the more you see and understand. The story tells us of an encounter between a small group of Neanderthals and a larger group of Homo Sapiens and the transition between the two worlds. The Inheritors is seen through eyes that perceive the world but cannot make sense of it. It became my ambition to write a book that had such an impact and changed the way people think about other human beings who are perceived to be different.
The book I can’t stop thinking about is Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, which won the 2020 Booker Prize. It’s a compassionate, lyrical, yet brutal portrait of addiction, love and childhood trauma.
Sorry – I didn’t give quick, lightning answers!
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was five when I discovered a love for writing. At my primary school we were allowed to write our own stories in a special booklet we were given if we’d completed our other work. I raced through my work just so that I could write, and then I went home and made my own story books. Living with a brother with a developmental disability could at times be challenging, so writing stories was a way to help me make sense of my world and to escape it for a little bit. I also wrote stories for my brother and used to tell them to him to help calm him down.
Your new novel, Rosie Loves Jack, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Independence, love, laughter, perseverance, and courage
What can readers expect?
I sincerely hope that my readers can expect to read a great love story, one that is optimistic and funny, that entertains them and that they can relate to. I believe they will take away a book with a character that stays with them and won’t let them forget her. It’s a story that hopefully raises some healthy discussion on some of the issues that are presented in it. It has some dark, mature topics but I think that makes it an unforgettable story. My readers will look at the world through new eyes and understand that human emotions don’t discriminate between those who are disabled and those who are able – and that by putting on someone else’s shoes they take a step towards empathy and understanding. I hope the book also proves that we must never assume that someone who has difficulty communicating has nothing to say.
What was the inspiration behind Rosie Loves Jack?
The initial inspiration behind Rosie Loves Jack was my brother Guy because people tend to only talk about the negatives of a learning disability, as they can’t see beyond the condition – or don’t know how to, which is why I decided from a young age that I wanted to do something about this.
The main inspiration for my book came from a time when I was lucky to work be withing a group of very inspiring teenagers, who all happened to have Down syndrome. One of them, a girl called Rosie, was feisty, funny and fiercely independent. I always wanted to write her into a story and give her the voice that she so desperately wanted to be heard.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
It was important to me to ensure a positive, independent but also realistic picture of Down syndrome. So, I realised I had to acknowledge some common characteristics, such as perhaps being trusting, but whilst avoiding reinforcing stereotypes about vulnerability, for example.
I was confident I could portray a realistic picture of Down syndrome, as I’ve known people with this condition for many years and learnt that, although Down syndrome isn’t on a spectrum, there are varying levels of capabilities. I realised I just had to treat Rosie like the normal teenager she is, then consider the common characteristics of a person with her condition. It soon became apparent that your average sixteen-year-old might be more streetwise and confident alone in London but would be just as vulnerable and gullible; Rosie because of her innocence and trust, a neuro-typical teenager because they think they know it all and are infallible.
I also undertook additional consultations to help ensure authenticity. I spoke to people, read articles and studied medical texts, as I wanted to write from a position of knowledge and not just base it on my experience and observations. The most helpful research I did was to listen to some TED Talks from people who had Down syndrome, which were invaluable.
This was also extremely helpful for writing Rosie’s speech patterns. I had to be aware of Rosie’s voice and the language she uses. I needed to convey the essence of the way she spoke, without making it hard to read. Many people with Down syndrome have anatomical differences in the mouth and throat region that affect feeding, swallowing, and oral motor skills. They can also often have poor muscle tone in the mouth area, so speech and language difficulties range from mild to severe depending on the person. Sometimes I ran Rosie’s words together to indicate this and to also show how Rosie’s thoughts could tumble over each other when she was anxious, stressed or simply over-excited. I also had to show her personal outlook; an ‘orange-segment moon’ hair like ‘fuzzy, blond ropes’. I was delighted that my sensitivity reader felt that I had got Rosie’s voice exactly right and that at times she felt that Rosie was herself in the way she spoke and how she saw things.
It was important to me that I establish the lyrical voice inside Rosie’s head. Rosie might not be able to articulate everything she wants to, but this does not mean that she cannot do that internally. My thoughts on this came from having my brother who is very severely autistic and needs constant care to help wash, dress and see to his every need. His language skills are that of a three-year-old and yet he is capable of occasional complex statements. At night time my brother shouts out constantly and it was while lying in bed listening to this that I realised how much more coherent he could be in his sleep and it set me thinking, ‘How do we know what anyone with a developmental disability might actually be capable of inside their minds?’
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Writing the character of Rosie was a joy from start to finish and I felt quite bereft when I’d finished the book, but I really enjoyed writing every character, even the peripheral ones, as for me a book is all about the characters. Once I know them inside out, almost from birth, they come alive and become real to me and my readers. Human beings are endlessly fascinating, so piecing together my characters’ lives and finding out what makes them the people they are and the way they behave, is a real pleasure and hugely satisfying!
One of my favourite moments in the book is when my character Rosie is on the underground heading to Victoria Station and she stops to listen to a busker, who she asks to sing her special song. It’s a moment where Rosie disappears into her own head, and it is a very lyrical passage. For me it was a pivotal moment for my readers, when we can understand the way Rosie thinks and feels, in comparison to the Rosie we witness in the outside world and all that she must deal with. It was also an important scene for me because Rosie dances with a lady who it turns out has a baby with Down syndrome. This lady has assumed that Rosie needs help navigating her journey, but she is moved to tears when she understands that her assumptions are wrong, and it changes the way she sees everything herself.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
One of the best pieces of advice I have been given is to always write the story that you are passionate about, the one that won’t leave you alone. Never try to follow trends or predict what you think publishers want or what might sell. Passion shines through your writing and will always be attractive to a reader.
The worst piece of writing advice I’ve been given, personally, was to plot out every chapter of my book. For me this just doesn’t work, as I have to know my characters first, back to front and inside out – then they take me by the hand and lead me through the story, sometimes to surprising places! If I confine myself with chapter boundaries my characters feel like they are stifled and become incapacitated.
What’s next for you?
My next book comes out early in 2022 and coincides with Autism Awareness Week in the UK, as it is a dual narrative between a teenage boy with Autism, who is unable to speak beyond simple sentences and someone who will never be independent, and his older sister. It was a challenge to write a character with such limited speech, but he is based on my brother who I always promised I’d give a voice to. I’m nervous but very excited to be able to share this story with my readers.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
- And the Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
- This Can Never Not Be Real by Sera Milano
- Bearmouth by Liz Hyder
