Doris Brett on ‘Philomella and the Impossible Forest’
Philomella and the Impossible Forest is Doris Brett’s first fiction book for children. A ‘playful take on the classic quest story’ the middle-grade novel follows Philomella who stumbles upon a forest that is at the risk of disappearing. Reviewer Bec Kavanagh describes the book as ’emotionally intelligent’, noting that Brett has ‘created a sense of hope and playfulness in the world … that is needed now more than ever’. She spoke to the author.
This is your debut children’s book, how different was the process of writing Philomella for you to writing your previous novels?
I’ve published books of poetry, fiction, memoir and therapeutic storytelling for children, and of all of those genres, writing Philomella was most like the experience of writing poetry. When I write poetry, I feel as if I’m opening a door in the back of my mind, that allows images and words to tumble out, utterly unfiltered. When it comes to putting my editor’s hat on to structure and shape them, I have to trust that those original words and images contain what I wanted to say, and they always do—often before I have known that I wanted to say it. I wrote Philomella one chapter at a time, letting myself run loose without any planned path ahead. It was always a great joy to discover that, as with poetry, I had somehow planted in chapter ‘X’, exactly what I hadn’t known I’d be needing in chapter ‘Z’.
Philomella was also the most sheer fun to write. I loved being immersed in the zany magic of the Forest, watching Philomella learn to think her way through impossible challenges, and following the journey of each character, as they grew to find themselves, in unexpected and moving ways.
As the mother of a 10-year-old, I can pretty confidently say that the last couple of years has really strained kids resilience and ability to be kind to themselves. Is this something that motivated the themes of the book?
I started writing Philomella before Covid hit, so it didn’t motivate the themes of the book, but it made them even more pertinent. The Covid years took some of the common fears and stresses of childhood, magnified them to the nth degree and added new ones to the mix. Children during Covid experienced a pervasive sense of helplessness and uncertainty, the disappearance of familiar, grounding routines, the loss of friends, the sense of unseen danger all around. They often reacted with anger, anxiety or despair to the new demands placed upon them and the new reality in which they found themselves. They were lost in unknown territory, with parents, over-burdened and depleted themselves, trying desperately to fill in the gaps.
In a non-Covid context, Philomella is dealing with the same issues. She has lost her friends and is socially isolated. She has been dragged, helplessly, into a new life that she hates. She is angry at her father, not getting enough of her over-loaded mother, and resenting everything about her ‘new normal’. Her experiences in the Forest, with its challenges, dangers and seductive traps, allow her to face her fears and find her own capacity for resilience, appreciation and hope.
How has your work as a clinical psychologist informed the story?
Being a clinical psychologist has certainly informed the story and my understanding of the emotional issues it covers. And being a writer, I think, has helped make the exploration of those issues page-turning, intriguing and captivating (as opposed to preachy or didactic), within the context of quirky magic, humour and suspenseful adventure.
I think writers have a lot in common with clinical psychologists. They are both concerned with what is below the surface—the intricate mysteries of narrative and theme in people’s lives and how they create meaning, emotion and action. Both are also concerned with the healing power of putting into words what has been unarticulated, perhaps not even conceptualised yet. Both too, are aware of the immense power of the human imagination—giving us the ability to journey, through words, into other people’s lives, feel their emotions, wrestle with their conflicts, experience their resolutions, and perhaps even recognise in them what we may not yet have recognised in ourselves. I hope in Philomella, I have given children an enchanted space in which to explore some of the difficult issues in many of their lives.
Philomella seems to have a lot in common with Bastian Balthazar But from the Neverending Story, and a lot of other classic heroes. What childhood heroes did you have that inspired her? How did you want her to differ from them?
The two childhood heroes that stand out for me are Alice (Alice in Wonderland) and Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz). Alice, for her curiosity, confidence and ability to take the impossible in her stride. Dorothy, for her compassion, courage and determination.
Philomella has a lot in common with these classic childhood heroines. Like Alice, she finds herself in a world filled with crazy logic. Like Dorothy, she is on a dangerous road trip, with assorted companions. She is also curious, compassionate and determined.
But Philomella is a modern child, with modern problems—the stress of newly divorced parents; the resentment of having to abandon her old life; her outsider status at school; her lost friends; her helplessness and inability to adapt to her new world.
She has to learn to look closely at what she fears (Alice also has to learn this: ‘You’re nothing but a pack of cards!’) but Philomella must also learn to look at what lies beneath the surface of what she desires.
Like Dorothy and her companions, Philomella needs to learn that her resources are within her (‘You had the power all along, my dear.’) but she also has other lessons to learn—about anger, rejection, grit and gratitude.
Read Bec Kavanagh’s review of Philomella and the Impossible Forest here.
Image credit: Martin Imber
