The Favourite Daughter
and other things I've been losing sleep over
THINGS THAT HAVE CAUGHT MY ATTENTION
One of my daily habits is doing The New York Times puzzles: Spelling Bee, Strands, Connections, The Mini and The Crossword. Every day. Like clockwork (except sometimes a clock that doesn’t actually work because I am yet to master the Thursday, Friday and Saturday crosswords).
Like all places on the internet there is a community around the puzzle pages, a sub-reddit and a community page on the Times website which is usually the most inviting and warm place. (I have a particular crush on Steve who always has the best clues to help me reach Genius on the Spelling Bee.) This week there was a technical issue with Wednesday’s spelling Bee and it released the pettiest puzzlers in the world - complaining and whinging (furiously) about a glitch that had made them have to start the puzzle again.
What kind of person writes in anger to complain because they had to start a word puzzle again? It astounds me how small, seemingly insignificant issues can release so much anger in people who seem otherwise to be puzzle-playing, word-game-loving, polite people. They are probably the same people who get very angry in recipe comments when they substitute the main ingredient in a recipe for something they had lying in the fridge and then become irate when the recipe doesn’t work.
Which brings me to the another ‘uproar’ on the internet that made me fear for the civility of society.
A couple of weeks ago Luke Bateman went viral with two million views on his TikTok where he spoke about his love of reading fantasy. Apparently it was a big deal because Bateman is a former NRL star and also a former contestant on The Bachelor and no-one thought he would be a fantasy reader who not only read for pleasure but talked about his love of reading in front of a huge audience.
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Long story short, after that video went viral Luke was contacted by Simon & Schuster and offered a two-book deal with Atria, one of their imprints, to write his own fantasy novels. Cue moral outrage from, well almost everyone, accusing him of white male privilege. There were literally people on social media hating on him and threatening him that his ‘popularity was over’. The list of reactions to this book deal is long. And angry.
I understand how hard it is to get a publishing deal in Australia, I understand that from the coal face, but I also understand that the publisher contacted him and that’s how business works; publishers want to make money and so they chase the numbers. It doesn’t mean other books won’t get published. It’s hard to get your idea/manuscript/draft in front of a publisher, it may be almost impossible to get a book deal but one person writing a book doesn’t mean that’s that - no more books will ever be published again. Also Bateman was approached by the publisher - why be outraged with the man and not the industry?
These are the things that keep me up at night - along with the heating of the planet, Trump’s march back to the 1950’s (and every news story relating to him), the situation in Gaza and the Ukraine and Sudan, what happens when you die and that time I was a student teacher and I was swinging on my chair and it toppled over and I fell with my skirt over my head in front of 30 very excited six-year olds.
READING
When I started reading this book I wasn’t sure what to make of it, some of the scenes were so improbable and the characters seemed so infantile and difficult. I started to wonder if the story was just not skewed to my demographic. But I persisted because the reading was easy enough and I kind of wanted to know what was going to happen even though I couldn’t really connect with the characters.
And then all of a sudden something clicked and I realised that I was viewing the characters exactly as I was meant to, they were flawed and difficult characters and their “journey” was unfolding in front of me just like it was meant to. The scenes may have been far fetched and the probability of the story happening in real life very far fetched - but isn’t that what fiction is sometimes about?
The Favourite Daughter tells the story of two estranged sisters who lose their father and meet each other. It is a story about family and alcoholism and mental health, about inherited trauma and the realities of addiction. It is about family dysfunction and loneliness and finding your way through the darkness.
Thanks for reading to the end. Also thanks for liking this post - it does some magic algorithmic thing that I don’t understand but the more likes it has the more people see it. I don’t know if that’s a good thing but people tell me it is.
Hope to see you next week
Lana
Thank you for introducing me to the delight of Luke - I just had a little look at his TikTok, and the interview you shared. He even makes Book Nooks - another phenomenon I’ve only come across this week.
People need to stay in their lane.
I realised I missed your post last week - it was a bit too busy around here.
Totally agree re what you said re Luke Bateman. Publishing has always been a business and S&S saw a business op. Hopefully if they sell a tonne of Luke's books they'll be able to risk some more unknown authors! Also I've heard a lot about how UNFAIR this is. And I'm surprised that this is a surprise. Life is often unfair.