Wendy Orr and Honey and the Valley of the Horses

Wendy Orr was born in Canada, and grew up in France, Canada and the USA. She studied occupational therapy in England, married an Australian farmer and moved to Australia. They had a son and daughter, and now live on five acres of bush near the sea.

Wendy’s first book, Amanda’s Dinosaur, was published in 1988. Since then, she has written over 40 books for children, teenagers and adults, been published in 29 languages, and garnered a string of awards and accolades, within Australia and internationally, including the Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature and the CBCA Book of the Year. Her books include Nim’s Island, the first Australian children’s book to become a Hollywood feature film, the much-loved YA novel Peeling the Onion, and the highly awarded hybrid-verse novel Dragonfly Song.

Wendy believes that every child deserves to find the books that fuel their passion for stories, encourage empathy and connection and empower them for the future.

Q: Wendy, what is your favourite thing about writing?

Wendy: My favourite thing about writing is much the same as reading – losing myself in another world. Honey and the Valley of Horses was particularly powerful for this, because I simply loved being in the valley. It was a great place to escape to when real life was tough. But I also love the challenge of finding the story, and seeing my characters coping with all the terrible things I throw at them.

Q: What’s a surprising fact readers might not know about you?

Wendy: I see words in colours.

Wow, that is interesting!

Q: Can you share two writing tips on how you wrote your fabulous new book, Honey and the Valley of the Horses?

Wendy: Draw maps of all your story settings so that things make sense (eg, the sun can’t rise behind the mountain in the morning and then set behind it at night!). Drawing will also help you fill in lots of details.

Read your story aloud when you think it’s finished. You’ll probably find a few sentences that sound a bit clunky; you might also realise that you’ve written something very similar a few pages earlier, so you’ll need to change one of them!

Q: Where did the idea for this book come from?

The first line, ‘In the mountains there was a valley, and in the valley were the horses,’ came into my head a year or so before I started writing. I had lots of fun imagining the valley and the horses, but I didn’t know what the story’s big problem was going to be (ie the plot). Then came the pandemic and lockdown – I decided that was the problem that made the family flee the city and escape to somewhere more wonderful, just as we all wanted to.

Q: How have you drawn on your own personal experiences to create it?

The other side of that terrible lockdown time was that my son, his wife, baby and three year old daughter lived with us for a year, so we had the amazing experience of living as an extended family. This was especially powerful for me since I only saw my grandparents every three years when I was growing up – and because I’m a migrant, my children only saw their grandparents every eighteen months. So it was wonderful to see my two of my grandchildren every day! At the same time, I desperately missed seeing my daughter, her new born baby and three year old, so those feelings went into the book too.

As you might guess, I’ve always loved horses, and although injuries mean I can no longer ride, it was an important part of my childhood and teen years – and something I still love imagining.
Also, during the writing of the book, a ‘micro burst’ or mini-tornado went through our property, ripping out about eighty huge gum trees and creating a wide clearing from one corner up to the house. It was a terrifying but amazing event to see, so I decided to use a much smaller version of it in the story.
Finally, the grandparents creating their ideal camping van was drawn from my parents. They never converted an ice cream van, but they loved setting up their various camper vans and building or renovating boats to live in.

Q: How long did it take you to write Honey and the Valley of the Horses?

About two years, once I found the plot.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Honey was four and her brother Rumi was a tiny baby, her family loaded up their converted ice-cream-van-camper and drove away from all they knew, as an illness swept the sad wide world. High in the mountains, they crossed a bridge to follow a mysterious herd of enchanted horses into a sheltered valley. The bridge and the track disappeared behind them – and now they are trapped in paradise.

In the valley of horses, Honey’s family becomes self-sufficient, fishing, growing vegetables and using solar power. But no messages from the outside world are ever received. When her father falls desperately ill, Honey is sure there must still be people in the big wide world who can help. She is determined to draw on her resourcefulness, self-belief and courage, but will this be enough to find a way out of the valley?

THREE GREAT THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK!

  1. Characters that the reader will care about are tested to the limits of their courage and resilience.
  2. A beautifully crafted setting with a hint of magic.
  3. Action, tension and contemporary themes woven into a story about family, the environment and hope.
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