MEGAN WILLIAMS won the 2022 Text Prize for her debut YA novel Let’s Never Speak of This Again. Her novel is a tender, moving story laced with humour, about friendship, about the things that test it, and about what matters most. Good Reading for Young Adults caught up with the author to discuss her novel.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ella and I have been best friends since grade one. We can spend hours talking about everything and nothing. We know each other’s greatest fears, things that irrationally annoy us, and ideal career if money and skill weren’t an issue. If there was only one Hartford Bakery brownie left in the whole world and it was somehow in my possession, Ella is the only person I’d consider sharing it with.
Life is pretty good for 16-year-old Abby. Okay, her grandma doesn’t remember things anymore, her relationship with her mum is increasingly strained and she accidentally kissed her cousin’s cousin on the weekend, so things aren’t exactly perfect. But everything is manageable with her best friend, Ella, by her side.
And with Ella’s brother, Will, interesting and attentive, on the sidelines.
When new girl Chloe arrives, Abby is pleased to be the one to show her around, to welcome her to the group. But Abby doesn’t imagine Chloe fitting in so well or quite so quickly. And before long Abby is feeling just a little left out, a little unsure of Ella’s friendship. In a moment of anger and confusion she wishes something bad would happen.
When it does – with tragic consequences – everything shifts again. And Abby has to face her own feelings and work out what friendship really means.
MEET THE AUTHOR
What inspired your foray into writing?
Reading, podcasts and the pandemic. I’ve always loved reading, but these days I feel constantly bombarded by news and social media and advertising, and I enjoy getting lost in a good book now more than ever. A friend got me on to the podcast Stories Behind The Story. I became hooked and started listening to other podcasts on books and writing. Countless hours of podcasts later, I realised that authors are not the mythical creatures I’d assumed they were. It turns out that many people write around work, family and other commitments – their lives as varied as the books they write. The common thread seemed to be a love of books and a desire to write. I ticked those boxes, but still, I didn’t feel like I had the time. Then covid spread, we went into lockdown and I ran out of excuses.
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind Let’s Never Speak of this Again?
I was walking along the beach at Christmas and started making up a story in my head to entertain myself. It went something like this: there were two friends who had been friends for ages, but recently their lives had started moving in different directions. Just when one friend started to think they’d drifted apart, something tragic happened to the other one. That’s as far as I got. A few months later we went into lockdown and I came back to the story about the two friends, sat down at my computer and started writing what became Let’s Never Speak of This Again.
Can you tell us a bit about Abby and what readers can expect from her journey in the book?
Sixteen-year-old Abby feels very lucky to have such great friends. She’s been best friends with Ella since they were little. Ella is one of those warm, funny people who light up the room. Abby … less so.
When Chloe starts at their school, Abby decides to help her settle in. At first, she enjoys having this exciting new friend and being the centre of attention for once. But Chloe fits in better than Abby ever imagined, and before long Abby’s feeling a little left out and a little ensure of Ella’s friendship. In a moment of confusion and anger, she wishes something bad would happen to Ella. And then it does. While Ella goes through something unimaginable, Abby needs to face her own feelings and work out what friendship really means.
Can you talk about the challenges and joys of writing from the perspective of a teenage protagonist?
I like writing from the perspective of a teenager because teenagers can be just as intelligent and complex as adults but they’re often going through things for the first time and so don’t have the wisdom that comes from experience. The hardest part was probably making Abby’s world feel genuine and relatable despite all the changes in technology and social media that have occurred since I was a teenager.
Did you draw from your own life or experiences to capture the relationship between Abby, Ella, and Chloe?
I did! In high school I was still figuring out who I was and constantly compared myself to other people. As a result, I saw friendship in relative terms – I thought that if a friend became close with someone else, that automatically impacted upon my relationship with that friend and meant we became less close. In Let’s Never Speak of This Again, Abby starts off with a similar limited understanding of friendship.
What are some of the most important messages you hope to convey through your story?
I tried not to be preachy, but I hoped to show that grief is a complicated and personal experience – people process grief in different ways at different times, and there’s no right or wrong way to grieve. Ella’s storyline suggests that burying grief will only work for so long, and eventually it will likely help to talk with someone.
In Let’s Never Speak of This Again, Abby needs to work out how to support Ella at a time when she’s feeling unsure of Ella’s friendship. Abby reconnects with Ella and their relationship deepens when Abby seeks to truly understand what Ella is going through. I hope that by connecting with Abby, readers appreciate that although it can be tricky to know what to do or say, the real help is to just be there for your friends, however they are. I also hope that readers see a connection between Abby becoming more self-confident and a more inclusive friend.
In Let’s Never Speak of This Again, Abby also reflects on a sexual experience that left her feeling uncomfortable. I wanted to show that consent can be withdrawn at any time for any reason (including when you can’t quite put your finger on why you want to stop), and silence or lack of resistance does not equal consent.
If you could describe this book in three words, what would they be?
Honest, surprising, funny
Which authors or books do you greatly admire?
I think Helen Garner and Elizabeth Strout are just brilliant and love all their books.
In the YA space, I’ve recently enjoyed Karen Comer’s Grace Notes, Nina Kenwood’s Unnecessary Drama, Wai Chim’s The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling and Allayne L Webster’s Selfie.
