Vanessa Hatley-Owen talks When Dad Came Home to local media

A fine profile of debut author Vanessa Hatley-Owen appeared in the Howick and Pakuranga Times yesterday (also in the Botany and Ormiston Times).

The article explores the genesis of  When Dad Came Home:

Some wounds are not visible. For some returned soldiers the battles continued long after the guns fell silent.

Those were the thoughts that were running in Vanessa Hatley-Owen’s mind as she attended an author talk about the effects of First World War.

For someone who has always been a history buff, it didn’t take long for Vanessa to weave the idea into a children’s picture story book.

So what happens after the soldiers return from war? She postulated and went on to write a gripping book for children at a weekend retreat for writers.

Just how hard it was for men to readjust after life in the trenches hit home to me reading a quote in Oratia's other book that marks the end of the First World War — Christopher Pugsley's tribute to the last major action of the war, Le Quesnoy 1918:

On 3 February 1919 Fred Cody writes from Germany at what is the start of his journey home. 

Been away so long that everything about home is a little blurred, but I suppose a man will settle down in time. 

Some men did settle down in time, as the father in When Dad Came Home finally manages with the love of his family. For others, the war never ended.

Bringing Dad home after the war ends

When the First World War ended, not all kids got their fathers back, and among those that did come home were many scarred by mental wounds. 

After the bands stop playing and the street festivities subside, young Rita and Thomas wait to see their Dad again. But the man who eventually comes home doesn’t speak and is frightened by loud noises. 

Struggling to understand, the kids support him as he readjusts to home life, all the while singing his favourite song. 

One day, while they help him fix the deck, Dad starts to join in the song …

When Dad Came Home movingly captures a children’s view of war and the realities of shell shock (what we now know as PTSD). 

Published on Thursday 8 November, in time to mark the centenary of the War’s end on 11 November 1918, this striking debut work is reminder of how the effects went on after the dads came home.

Author Vanessa Hatley-Owen will be on hand to launch the book at Howick Library this Saturday 10 November (see below) — all welcome. 

Vanessa Hatley-Owen (above, left) is a writer who has published with Learning Media and been a New Zealand Society of Authors mentee. A mother of three and teacher support, she lives in Howick, Auckland. 

Rosie Colligan (right) has illustrated for book and commercial clients in New Zealand and internationally, and formerly worked at Weta Digital. She lives in Wellington.

Publication: 8 November 2018  |  ISBN: 978-0-947506-50-6  |  RRP $19.99                    Paperback, 230 x 135 mm, 32 pages colour

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