By Natasha Fujimoto
FULL of gasp-out loud surprises, Aussie tucker, magic and an effortless, God-given talent to communicate with animals, this year’s Furphy Literary Award-winning short story, Away to Me is, at heart, a simple love story that simply sparkles.
Author and newspaper journalist, Jen Rewell said of her wholly original yarn,
“It’s a story about a man, Half-Arthur, who has a very special way with animals- a gift. He can do anything with them, but sadly he is out of work, and he gets hungrier and hungrier and must tighten and tighten his belt until…’
Something rather strange but wonderful happens here, but I’m a not going to tell you what it is because that would ruin the pleasure of surprise. Suffice to say that from this point onwards, Away with Me keeps on surprising while gladdening the heart with its endearing, very Aussie, love story.
When asked about how she found the inspiration to write such a singular short story, Jen said,
“I do tend to dream things up. I dream things up just before I wake up and then, as the stories are bubbling out of my brain, I tend to tell my teenage children who will listen to my crazy ideas. Later, perhaps after a few days, they will come back to me and ask, ‘have you written that one down yet?’ Busy as I am, when I do get to write my stories down, they turn out like Away to Me.”
Taking place in the familiar countryside, Jen’s seemingly simple story invites all manner of explication. When asked about the varied interpretations of her award-winning story Jen said,
“I really like that so many people love the story, I mean it’s lovely to win the award and to have so many people read it from all walks of life. People are always going to bring their own history to a story when they read it. Everyone who reads Away to Me will take something different away from it dependent upon their own history and experiences. I know how I wrote the story but as long as people read it and get something out of it, then that’s lovely.”
To enjoy Jen’s Away to Me head to the following link https://www.furphystory.com.au/furphy-literary-award/the-awards/.
