She has the goods: tight character development, plot intrigue, excellent pacing and a beautiful turn of phrase.
A lot of her books are about death and incest and loneliness—a desolate collection, but I think one that shows her supreme skill; any writer able to write on these topics without letting introspective pity creep into the writing has skill indeed.
I should also add that she is quite versatile, writing for children at the picture book level right through to young adults and adults, although she is best known for being a YA writer, especially after she won the 2008 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The only other writer I know who is that versatile is Catherine Jinks, but unfortunately I haven't read many of her novels.
I once wrote to her to say how much I enjoyed Wilful Blue and to my surprise she wrote back (I just trawled through a whole bunch of kept letters and couldn't find her notecard, which must mean it's in a box with kept cards that I can't access at the moment).
I have also seen her a few times. At the Sydney Writers' Festival a few years ago in a Q&A session I asked how she managed to get into the mindset of a teenage boy as there are a few male teenage protagonists in her books. She said she writes teenage boys as the teenage boy she would have liked to have been.
Benjamin Law, Sonya Hartnett and Alex MillerI also saw her in a session with Benjamin Law and Alex Miller at the Melbourne Writers' Festival last year talking about the books that influenced them.
After both sessions I talked to her in the signing queue (the first time I had Wilful Blue signed, the second time I didn't have any books but there was no one waiting after about 15 minutes) and asked her a few questions.
During the MWF session I asked the three writers which book of another author's they wish they had written. Law said David Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and anything by David Sedaris, but the moderator didn't let Hartnett and Miller answer, so when I spoke to Hartnett I told her that I wished I'd written Wilful Blue if only for the pacing. She told me that it was the first novel she felt she really 'got' pacing so was really pleased that I'd noticed.
I have, however, heard a few unsavoury things about her. One is that she can appear quite bitter. A friend who once worked in children's publishing went to a writers' festival session that featured Hartnett and a lady who writes a series of books about horses (I think it might have been Bonnie Bryant who writes The Saddle Club series) and said she was shocked at how deliberately dismissive Hartnett was about people who write not only series, but horse books, as "not real writers". Apparently Bryant said to my friend: "That woman is a little bitter, isn't she?"
As for reports about Hartnett being a recluse, I have no problem with that. She makes the occasional appearance at writers' festivals and award ceremonies, and speaks to journalists when required and spends the rest of the time writing. I envy her. She doesn't need to be in your face for her books to sell, there is no author cult required. Win.
Day 14 – Favourite book of your favourite writer
Day 15 – Favourite male character
Day 16 – Favourite female character
Day 17 – Favourite quote from your favourite book
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favourite romance book
Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favourite book you own
Day 23 – A book you've wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favourite title
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favourite book of all time
I'd like to thank Sarah Jansen for her tweet about this, as well as The Literary Gothamite and Confessions of a Book Lush for the good idea.
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