My latest book Stagefright has just been released in Australia and should be in shops now. Stagefright is the only book I’ve written that is set now. It is the story of a bunch of students at a sports-mad school, who put on a musical. The multicultural group of students, some who have musical talents, some who do not, decide on a musical version of Shakespeare’s tragedy Richard III.
Richard III, who was king of England for a short period between 1483 and 1485 has unexpectedly been in the news in the last weeks as his skeleton was found buried under a carpark in the city of Leicester, England. Proved to be his skeleton by DNA testing, this confirms that Richard did have a curved spine, which would be disappointing news for Velvet S Pye, the main character in Stagefright, who does not believe that Richard was the bad guy that history has painted.
This book is special to me as it is not only my lastest book, it was also my first published book. How is this possible, I hear you say? Well I wrote the book back in 1995 (partly with two fingers when I broke my wrist). It was published back then as part of a series of teen novels. In the strange workings of publishing, Maryann Ballantyne, who was my editor back then, is now my publisher. She didn’t know me very well back in 1995 and when she read my manuscript her comment was “I didn’t know you were funny, Carole!” Anyway she came across the book last year and suggested that I update and rewrite it. And I did. I had a lot of fun revisiting Velvet and her friends and bringing the story into the 21st century.
Hi, I am a massive fan of this book, I read it in one day ( I even turned my phone off (which is an iphone-I have something in common with Velvet S Pye) and usually I cant go with out my phone for more then 10 minutes.I love the different ‘parts’ to this book, the romance, the whole teenage drama and the reality stuff (Hailies period situation) I am begging you for a sequal,I loved this book, I’d love to hear more about the drama’s at Yarrabank high. Please find away to get Drago back, he’s just to cool ( not the whole naughty kid stuff ) and please please please x100000 keep Velvet and Taleb together. 😀 thankyou for reading
Hayley,
Thank you so much. You are the first person to write to me about Stagefright! I’m really pleased to hear that you liked it. I do have some ideas for another book set at Yarrabank High, but the publishers will make the decision as to whether their will be a sequel. It depends on the sales of this one.
I love that book!!! It’s the best teen book I have ever read! To be honest, I used to be like the old Velvet S Pye, looking down at the other ‘naughty’ children. But now I have read the book, I realize how things should go with the flow. I absolutely LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!!
Amy,
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the book so much. And learned something from it!
I’m so glad I’ve found your site/blog! As an avid reader at age 9 or 10 when the original version came out I was a huge fan! I grew up in Sydney and now I live in Melbourne and I find myself still remember certain places that were named in the book! I may or may not just happen to have a long haired boyfriend that plays in a heavy band too! I’m really interested to see the differences between the old and new version.
Jordanna,
I had a lot of fun rewriting it. I hope you enjoy it.