The Girl who Raced the World by Nat Harrison
Nat Harrison joins us on the blog today sharing insight into her debut novel, The Girl who Raced the World.
Making Every Day an Adventure
When I was growing up, every school holiday was spent packing up the car and heading in one of two directions: sixty miles to Somerset or a hundred miles to Dorset, to visit my grandparents. My whole world was the south-west of England; at the beach, in the fields, or just out in the back garden, there was always an adventure to be found.
Then, when I was around the same age as Maggie Appleton in my book, The Girl Who Raced the World, we moved six thousand miles across the globe to Hong Kong and my life changed forever.
It was like whooshing through a magic portal to another world. I couldn’t open my eyes wide enough to take it all in. I still remember stepping out onto the street for the first time; the heat, the barrage of scents, the language that sounded so beautiful.
Over three incredible years, the adventure of Hong Kong sunk deep into my bones. The places, the people, the culture, the food. As my granny would say, it gave me ‘scratchy feet.’ I was hooked.
Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to live in Australia and the United States and have travelled to every continent except Antarctica (one day, I hope!)
In that time, I’ve been a sweet seller, ice cream whipper, hamburger flipper and bingo caller, and worked for large multinational companies all over the world. But the one constant in this sea of change has been my enduring love of adventure stories.
A few years ago, I decided the time had come to try and write one of those stories I loved so much. I was very lucky to be accepted to the Bath Spa University MA in Writing for Young People, and again, my life changed forever.
In the very first class, we were given five minutes to answer one simple question; what do you want to write about?
I scribbled about journeys to far off lands, jungles thick with creeper vines and colourful birds swooping through the trees. Steam trains racing past mountains and ships steaming through the treacherous seas. I wanted to make readers gasp in amazement and hoot with delight at the world around them.
In those first few minutes, the idea for the Girl Who Raced the World was born. It is the story of eleven-year-old Maggie Appleton who is swept up in Phileas Fogg’s famous gamble to race around the world in eighty days; the classic story first created in 1872 by Jules Verne.
Reimagined with heart pounding twists, exciting new characters, and a young person at the heart of the adventure, The Girl Who Raced the World brings a beloved adventure
story to a new generation of readers. I hope it will be enjoyed by parents, grandparents, and all those who loved the original too.
Maggie goes on an epic adventure that most of us can only dream of, but you don’t need to race around the world to find an incredible adventure. In fact, if you cast an explorer’s eye close to home, as I did all those years ago visiting my grandparents, you may find a great many exciting adventures just waiting to be enjoyed.
Because no matter where we are in the world, when we share stories, find friends, and make memories, we keep adventure in our hearts.
The Girl Who Raced the World by Nat Harrison, is out 25th September, published by Piccadilly Press
