by Tabitha Bird
Eli walks into the room and takes the postcard off me. ‘Can we water the ocean and watch it grow waves?’
‘I love your questions, even when they drive me nuts. And yes, we can water it this afternoon. I’ll just pop these glasses and this card into an envelope to be mailed.’ I remember Silver Willa also had the invitation Solomon wrote me.
An invitation:
Have you met Super Gumboots Willa?
Where: You decide
When: In your own time
Willa likes questions, and that one is the most important of all. I fold the invitation and place the card and my glittery glasses inside a yellow envelope to mail them to myself. To be delivered 1 June 2050. Imaginations are beautiful and fragile things, like childhood. And I never want to risk losing myself again.
I hold the white card Eli found. It’s filthy, and has been folded and refolded so many times. One ocean: plant in the backyard.
‘I’ll go get Seb and Eden ready, then.’ Eli races down the hallway.
When they return Eli has goggles and flippers on, ready for some gardening.
‘Will Super Gumboots Willa come gardening?’ Eli asks. ‘I miss her.’
‘Maybe. Let’s go find out.’ Since my thirty-fourth birthday, I’ve seen Super Gumboots Willa from time to time. Of course, I already know she and Lottie go to live with Grammy, and how difficult that was for Mother. There are long days ahead for all of them, but now I know Super Gumboots Willa will make it.
With Eden on my hip, the boys and I walk out into the ocean-garden. Eli swishes the water around from the jam jar and we wait. But nothing happens. My fingers do not tingle and there is no blue glow, no shells, no crabs. No matter how we try, the ocean does not grow.
‘What’s wrong?’ Eli looks up.
I wait to become panicked, but instead a peace nestles inside me. I think the ocean has done what it was meant to do. It brought me together with my younger and older selves to bring our shame into the light, to show me how to trust our story and begin to heal. Now by working out who sent the boxes, the yellow envelope and the notebook, all ready to post via our Boonah post office with its own little time slip, I’ve done everything I need to do. The Willas won’t live their lives on a time loop anymore. Willa has already saved herself.
I hug my children close. ‘Don’t worry, Super Gumboots Willa is in the past, but she’s also right here inside me.’
We sit under the mango tree and their eyes grow big as I tell them the same stories Lottie once heard. Children with wings. A girl who was born without a mouth but manages to speak. Even Lion yips in approval. Later, I write those stories down.
Happiness has a name, a long name. It is the combination of all the Willas’ stories now told.
I ache. There is still a hole inside me; Grammy is still a woman I cannot bear to have lost, but I decide to go feed the possums. Extra servings of grapes and honey-dipped bread.
‘We’re all stories, Willa. How else do you tell a story if you don’t make it up? Sometimes, when everything else seems lost, you just have to keep making stuff up.’
Now I understand why she left me the typewriter. It doesn’t work, but that depends what you want it to work for. I place it on my bedside table to remind me of the power of stories and the impossible. The typewriter works just fine there.
In the future, watch out, world: there will be an old lady who collects gumboots and orders cows off radio programs. She will have walked on the moon. And one day, since she cannot help herself, Silver Willa will take a real shine to a most unusual word. Catawampus: I’ve already decided it means that things are exactly as they should be.
The End
But not The End, because first,
An invitation:
Have you met your own Super Gumboots Willa?
Where: You decide
When: In your own time
And have you baked jam drops yet?
Jam Drops
200 grams butter, softened
¾ cup castor sugar or white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
2½ cups self-raising flour
115 grams (1/3 cup) strawberry jam (Jam jars are important!)
Step 1: Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla essence in large bowl until pale and creamy. Add eggs and beat one at a time until combined. Sift flour over butter mixture and stir until combined.
Step 2: Roll teaspoon full of mixture into balls. Place on trays, leaving space between. Make fingertip indentation in centre of each ball. Spoon small amount of jam into hole in each biscuit.
Step 3: Bake for 10 minutes, or until biscuits are lightly golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool before eating. If you can wait that long.
Acknowledgements
Many years before there was an unformed thing otherwise known as a first draft of a book, I was asked a simple question by a most wise counsellor: what does the pain look like? Esther Diplock, for inviting me into your office, the many ages of me who desperately needed to speak, and giving them all voice just by listening, the words ‘thank you’ are too small. There should exist much bigger words. If ever I find them I will be hauling them into your office. For now you have my deepest gratitude.
The three Willas needed much support and I could not have brought them to the page without a village. My thanks to those who gave me the ocean, helped me unbox it, plant it or water it, or simply held it in your hands when I could not.
To my team at Golden Wheat Literary for your support, especially my agent, Nicole Payne. Thank you for taking a chance and for your belief.
To Kimberley Atkins, who was only supposed to give feedback on the first five pages but read the whole manuscript, my profound thanks. You held such hope for a thing that was such a mess. Thank you for seeing what it could become. Thank you to all my team at Penguin Random House Australia for your support and for performing the impossible by turning my words into a real-life book. The Willas are so impressed! A huge thank-you to Beverley Cousins, who took the flame from Kimberley and showed such enthusiasm and love for the Willas. She also helped me sort them out. Without your guidance we might all still be wondering what the Willas were up to. Thanks to my editor Tom Langshaw for your attention to detail and for pushing my writing further than I thought it could go. To Louisa Maggio for visually giving me the ocean in the form of this gorgeous cover, I thank you.
To my grandmother, Ann Petch (affectionately known as Nannie), tea and kisses forever. You were my enchantment in childhood and your words have held me in some very dark places. To my grandfather, Popo Petch, who I hope gets to see this book launched into the world from where he is in heaven. I hope I make you proud; know that I’ll always love you. And to my uncle, Jason Petch, thank you for your support and for being the big brother I never had. Much love.
To my mother, Lisa. It takes great courage to rise and rise again. I see your strength. Thank you for returning for me and never once letting me go. I love you.
To my sisters, pieces of my heart. There are no words so I will simply say that I love you both.
Thank you to the Bird family for the gift of your last name and for welcoming a sixteen-year-old who knew nothing except that she loved your eldest son. Phil, Bev, Andrea, James, Austin, Tyler, Joel, Liz, Indigo and Sienna, thanks for your support.
Wen Baragrey, thank you for more than ten years of a friendship so grand and velvet and plush that I still sink into it and sigh with gratitude. For all the emails and midnight messages and for telling me that I would make it. All girls deserve a diamond. You are mine.
Thank you to Jacinta Osgood and Kerryn Stanford, for your swords and your flashy handball. (You know what I mean.) And though you often think nothing of it, you are the warriors at my side. Thanks also to Chris, who helped me see my own work with greater clarity and was not afraid to say it how it was. I can’t wait to see your own words in print. Keep going!
To my bo
ys, Isaiah, Cyrus and Darius. Oh, the wonder of you three. You made me a mother; is there a greater magic? Silver Willa borrowed some of your wisecrackery, Cy. She thanks you. Without you boys the house would be quieter and this book edited without interruption, but my universe would fall silent and this book would be without flair. My Rocketman, my Scoob, my wild-coconut-loving-cat-dude, I love you all.
Of course there is a Chihuahua to thank, my own Lion. We are ‘The Writers’. You were tucked up with me for every moment of this book, your head in the crook of my arm as I typed, or curled up behind my back on the chair. Thank you for the gift of your presence, the quiet assurance of you. You taught me that bravery is not in size of body but in size of spirit.
And to Matt. My core, my centre. You were the boy who asked how I was and really wanted to know. Thank you for twenty years of us. Thank you for still asking and for still listening. For your unwavering support of my writing. Gosh, the Willas ran amok, didn’t they? Thank you for rounding them up with me and for helping me to heal their story. You gave me gumboots sure and true.
To God. The greatest storyteller. My rock. A place to put my feet. Forever thanks.
And lastly to you, readers. It was because of you that I persisted. You have read the Willas to life and there is no greater gift to a writer. This book is yours.
Book Club Discussion Notes
Willa time-travels between three different stages of her life. If you could travel back in time, what would you tell your younger self?
A mysterious box was sent to eight-year-old Willa. If you could send a box of items backwards or forwards in time, what would you send? To whom, and why?
What do you think gumboots represent for each of the three Willas? Eight-year-old Willa calls herself Super Gumboots Willa, for example. Did you have a special childhood nickname for yourself?
Why do you think it’s an ocean that is sent in the jar? Discuss whether the ocean or any other place holds special significance for you.
There is a saying that time heals all wounds, but can time on its own ever be enough?
The Willas often bake jam drops as a source of comfort. Are there any foods you like to bake or eat, and if so, what memories do they evoke for you?
What lies did Middle Willa believe and how did they affect her choices as a parent and her relationship with Sam? What lies must she challenge, and why?
Silver Willa is constantly battling time. It flies, runs out and can’t be bought. What is your own relationship with time?
If you had your own notebook titled Things I Am Sure Of, what would you write in it?
There is an invitation to meet your younger self at the back of this book. Do you think it’s possible to spend time with our younger selves? If you could, what would you say or do?
Have we as a society become more aware of families in crisis? Why or why not?
The Willas love Chihuahuas. Have you ever owned a pet that’s had an impact on your life? How so?
Tabitha Bird is a writer and poet who lives and works in the rural township of Boonah, Queensland. By day Tabitha may be found painting, working on her next book or with her husband, three beautiful boys and Chihuahua.
HALF MOON LAKE
Kirsten Alexander
In 1913, on a summer’s day at Half Moon Lake, Louisiana, four-year-old Sonny Davenport walks into the woods and never returns.
The boy’s mysterious disappearance from the family’s lake house makes front-page news in their home town of Opelousas. John Henry and Mary Davenport are wealthy and influential, and will do anything to find their son. For two years, the Davenports search across the South, offer increasingly large rewards and struggle not to give in to despair.
Then, at the moment when all hope seems lost, the boy is found in the company of a tramp.
But is he truly Sonny Davenport? The circumstances of his discovery raise more questions than answers. And when Grace Mill, an unwed farm worker, travels from Alabama to lay claim to the child, newspapers, townsfolk, even the Davenports’ own friends, take sides.
As the tramp’s kidnapping trial begins, and two desperate mothers fight for ownership of the boy, the people of Opelousas discover that truth is more complicated than they’d ever dreamed …
Half Moon Lake is Kirsten Alexander’s compelling debut novel, about the parent-child bond, identity, and what it means to be part of a family.
‘A gripping, nervy tale of identity, class and race … a strong original narrative, with a central mystery and an intriguing plot’ Sydney Morning Herald
AVAILABLE NOW
STAR-CROSSED
Minnie Darke
When Justine Carmichael (Sagittarius, aspiring journalist and sceptic) bumps into her old friend Nick Jordan (Aquarius, struggling actor and true believer) it could be by chance. Or perhaps it’s written in the stars.
Justine works at the Alexandria Park Star – and Nick, she now learns, relies on the magazine’s astrology column to guide him in life.
Looking for a way to get Nick’s attention, Justine has the idea of making a few small alterations to ‘Aquarius’ before it goes to print.
It’s only a horoscope, after all. What harm could changing it do?
Charting the many unforeseen ripple effects of Justine’s astrological meddling – both for herself and others – Star-crossed is the funny, super-smart, feel-good novel of the year!
‘This delightful debut will leave you with a warm glow … In every way a delight, Star-crossed was so much fun this reviewer fell head over heels for it. If you loved David Nicholls’ One Day, go out and buy this now’ Herald Sun
‘[A] glorious romantic comedy … This is one dazzling, versatile writer, working with impeccable skill, sharp wit and frolicsome charm’ Weekend Australian
AVAILABLE NOW
HEART OF THE GRASS TREE
Molly Murn
When Pearl’s grandmother Nell dies unexpectedly, Pearl and her family – mother Diana, sister Lucy – return to Kangaroo Island to mourn and farewell her. Each of them knew Nell intimately but differently, and each woman must reckon with Nell’s passing in her own way.
But Nell had secrets, too, and as Pearl, Diana and Lucy interrogate their feelings about the island, Pearl starts to pull together the scraps Nell left behind – her stories, poems, paintings – and unearths a connection to the island’s early history, of the early European sealers and their first contact with the Ngarrindjeri people.
As the three women are in grief pulled apart from each other, Pearl’s deepening connection to their history, the island’s history, grounds her, and will ultimately bring the women back to each other.
Heart of the Grass Tree is an exquisite, searing and hope-filled debut about mothers and daughters and family stories, about country and its living history.
‘I loved this exquisite novel. Molly Murn has created a gorgeously lyrical story of love, family and belonging set against the landscape and history of Kangaroo Island … Heart of the Grass Tree announces Murn as a brilliant new voice in Australian fiction’ Hannah Kent
AVAILABLE NOW
SIXTY SUMMERS
Amanda Hampson
Life is too short for compromise …
When Maggie, Fran and Rose met in their youth, they had dreams and ambitions. Forty years later, the three friends are turning sixty, each of them restless and disenchanted with their lives.
Fran works in a second-hand bookshop. Her lover, one of a long line of disappointing men, is drifting away and her future is uncertain.
Maggie married into a volatile family. Her beautiful, indulged twin daughters are causing havoc and her elderly mother-in-law has moved in and is taking charge.
Rose has been an off-sider for her hopelessly vague but academically brilliant husband and their two sons. Time is running out to find and fulfil her own ambitions.
In an attempt to recapture the sense of freedom and purpose they once possessed, they decide to retrace the steps of their 1978 backpacking trip through Euro
pe and set off on an odyssey that will test their friendship, challenge their beliefs and redefine the third age of their lives.
AVAILABLE NOW
THE GIFT OF LIFE
Josephine Moon
You’ve been given the gift of life, now go live it.
Gabby McPhee is the owner of The Tin Man, a chic new cafe and coffee roasting house in Melbourne. The struggles of her recent heart transplant are behind her and life is looking up – until a mysterious customer appears in the cafe, convinced that Gabby has her deceased husband’s heart beating inside her chest.
Krystal Arthur is a bereaved widow, struggling to hold herself and her two young boys together since Evan’s death, and plagued by unanswered questions. Why was her husband in another city the night he died? And why won’t his spirit rest?
Krystal is convinced that Gabby holds the clues she needs to move towards a brighter future. Gabby needs Krystal to help her let go of her troubled past. The two women must come together to try to unlock the secrets in Evan’s heart in order to set free their own.
By the internationally bestselling author of The Chocolate Promise, this is a profound and moving novel about the deeper mysteries of love and loss – and the priceless gift of life.
‘A lovely Australian novel from an accomplished writer’ Good Reading