As we enter more progressive and diverse times, the limits on what characters can be is able to stretch even further.
For children’s book author Susan Brownrigg, this is only a beneficial tool and something which comes to light in her latest book, ‘Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest.’ The tale focuses around Gracie, who happens to have a congenital limb-difference, on the search for her mother in 1930s Blackpool after the appearance of a mysterious guest from her mother’s past.
Susan has been a writer for a long time, going back to her reporting days as a journalist while writing adventure tales about exotic locations such as Madagascar, Congo and the Amazon, however along the way Susan realised at this time, exotic tales weren’t what was catching the interest of readers.
“At the moment, people are really interested in writing from perspectives and things like ‘Who am I?’ and ‘What am I about?’ and the first thing that sprung to mind was that I’m a northern girl.
“I think if you’re from the north, it really does matter to you,” Susan beamed. “So then I started to think about what was interesting up here and suddenly Blackpool came to mind. To me, it’s a magical place and somewhere worth writing about with a fascinating history to it. It was then when I started doing more research and I got so caught up in the history of it, especially in the period of the 1930s as it was becoming a real period of change. Unemployment was rampant up and down the country, but Blackpool was managing to get through it better than other places.
“Given the fascinating period, I then began thinking about who my characters were going to be.”
With the new approach to her fresh, new burning story idea, Susan began thinking about who she wanted her main character to be and knew that it was going to be somebody with some kind of disability. Finding inspiration close to home, her own experiences helped strengthen the idea.
“I was thinking a lot about my mother as she uses a wheelchair and has a condition that has progressed quite a lot over the last ten to fifteen years along the lines of arthritis and scoliosis,” Susan explained.
Susan outside Blackpool Tower with her latest book, ‘Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest.’
“She might be my mother, but as her condition began to change, I saw how people’s outlook and attitude toward her changed. The more disabled she has become, the more people have tried to do things for her and talk to me about things rather than her. My mum might have to think about how she does things more, but she’s no different and I found that an interesting aspect to cover.
“I then started thinking about what kind of difference I wanted my character to have, which made me think about my great grandfather’s left arm being amputated following a shrapnel injury in World War 1, so I had a memory of that and had met some children through work who had similar limb-differences. I found it quite interesting as it is something quite physical that you can see and I wanted to think about how people react to things like that.
“I really wanted to have a character where, it wasn’t a story about them adjusting to having a limb-difference, as you see so many stories that focus on overcoming disability and I didn’t want that,” the Society of Children’s Book Writing & Illustrators ‘Undiscovered Voices’ 2016 winner divulged.
Susan’s thought track was of the direction that “This is Gracie. This is all she’s ever known,” as she continued aiming to reflect that. The aim was that the children being told these stories would think about how they react to people with differences and, for adults with differences, they’ll also see themselves represented well in this tale.
With the period setting of Blackpool in the 1930s, perception of disability differs far from the progressive mindset that is seen in today’s modern world. Susan goes on to say trying to find the balance between two very different generations was no easy task.
“It’s clear attitudes have changed overtime, so I wanted to have a modern point of view in some ways and still try keep it centred around the perceptions of the times. Coming from a place where I have no limb-difference myself, I read a lot of people’s blogs and websites to represent the community in the best way I can.
“I read a lot about, firstly, what it is like to have a limb-difference, people asking questions and how they dealt with it. When I reached the Pleasure Bleach section of the book, I looked at some of the rides Gracie goes onto and researched whether she would be able to go on them or not. In reality, a lot of them stated that if you had a limb-difference that they wouldn’t actually be able to ride it and that was a part of the research that struck strong feelings with me which I think shows in the chapter.
“You’ll see how well Violet reacts to Gracie’s difference, Tom’s clumsiness towards it and how the older ladies will often speak without thinking. But as you make your way through the book, you’ll notice even their attitudes towards Gracie changes. Occasionally, Gracie will have a new thing to learn as we all do and she just gets on with it. Her mother is a resilient character in her own right and I think the parenting style she projects onto Gracie is very positive and motivating.”
As aforementioned, author Susan doesn’t have a limb-difference of her own, so this project in of itself is a bold move with plenty of research at hand to indulge in. When you’re writing about something seemingly from outside of the circle, it can feel like walking on eggshells in terms of getting the terminology, approach and mannerisms all spot on.
From Brownrigg’s point of view, there was a feeling of a big responsibility at hand and one she intended to hit the mark on.
“There may be things I’ve gotten wrong and I’m sorry if so. Everybody’s experiences, from what I’ve learned over the course of writing this book, is that not everyone’s has been positive. I looked at a lot of YouTube clips of how people will approach different tasks depending on the kind of limb-difference they have.
“I did decide that I didn’t want Gracie to have a prosthetic, which I can imagine at the time wouldn’t have been a great tool for upper limb-differences. I wanted this to be more about how she manages without. That’s far more interesting in my opinion.”
While Gracie may be the main character in this and her reportedly future adventures under the writing talent of Susan, the northern author’s plan was to not make the book and her character revolve around her lack of an arm. Just like everyone in real life, their difference isn’t what defines them – it’s only a part of what makes them who they are.
“As much as we are talking about her limb-difference, it isn’t a substantial factor in the book just as it isn’t in many people’s lives,” Susan revealed. “It’s just a part of their personality and being. I am hoping there will be sequels as I have many ideas for future tales. Even though there is quite a bit about her limb-difference in this story, I don’t want it to define her. I want her journey to be as adventurous as any other hero’s would be.”
From start to finish of writing this book, Susan admits she has learned a lot more along the way about this community, its people and its organisations than she expected to. Having been so close to Gracie throughout the writing process, Susan had to think of all the little things in every day tasks and thus gained a lot more respect for the every day adaptions performed by limb-different people.
“It does make you think about how you do things. I feel far more aware of how someone like Gracie would do things like buttoning shirts or zipping up a jacket – I’ve even looked at chefs in terms of how they would cook and stuff!
“My mindset amongst this ‘disabled’ way of life has come on quite a bit. It’s been interesting for me to see the reaction to Gracie’s limb-difference as a story. Some of the reviews have been very positive about the book already, while I can see in some of the reviews how her difference has made people think about their attitudes towards any kind of disability – and that’s one of the biggest outcomes I think we can see with this story.”
If you’d like to learn more about Susan’s books and her latest release ‘Gracie Fairshaw and the Mysterious Guest’ out now, you can purchase a copy on Amazon, Waterstones and anywhere books are sold. You can also follow her on Twitter @suebmuseum.