August Book of the month: My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal - Join the author webchat on Wednesday 6 September, 9pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Our August book of the month is My Name is Leon, Kit De Waal's brilliant debut about a little boy whose mother is no longer capable of caring for him and his baby brother. Touching and thought-provoking, this novel will tug on your heart strings – and raise questions about family, friendship and identity.

You can find out more about the book. Even if you didn't win a copy, you can grab a copy to read over the summer. Kit De Waal joins us for a webchat at 9pm on Wednesday 6 September

Buy the book from Amazon

[KitdeWaal]

@barricade

A really well written book, which I shared my thoughts on last month.

I'd like to ask Kit a couple of general questions, if I may ..

* --> Do you have a personal favourite book/s?

* --> There’s a film named ‘Detroit’ currently being screened in cinemas which also contains themes and events, e.g. riots fuelled by racial injustice, similar to the ones described in your book. I think ‘My Name Is Leon’ would also make for an interesting film or TV adaptation. If this were a possibility, how would you feel about your work in 'other people's hands', and would you feel compelled to intervene with a ‘do’s and don’t’ instructions list for producers?

Hi Barricade. I wish I could say I have a favourite book but honestly there are so many good ones. The Remains of The Day stands out for me as does Madame Bovary but ask me again next week and I would say five or six different ones. I haven't yet seen Detroit although everything I hear about it is excellent.

I have sold the film rights of Leon to Lenny Henry and he is going to adapt it for film or TV - not sure which! Watch this space!

[Givemecoffeeplease]

Oh gawd please don't say it still happens! Heart breaking. The way you wrote how Leon felt about missing his wee brother cracked my heart - it really did!! I felt exactly what he was going thru. Very very beautifully written.

[BetterEatCheese]

Wow that's amazing! Would love to see it on TV!

[Givemecoffeeplease]

Yup me too but v tough for the child actor!!

[KitdeWaal]

@SallySwann

I'd like to ask what inspiration Kit took for writing largely through a child's eyes? I think it worked brilliantly and certainly added humour to what could have been a very heavy subject. I thought it was interesting that the story was set in the 80s, so was there any particular reason for this? I must say how I enjoyed the various characterisations, all of whom seemed so real. I particularly enjoyed Lion's outings to the allotment and the love/hate relationships he encountered there.

Hi SallySwann, yes about setting it in the 80's. I really did this because I first discovered Leon as a character when he was an adult and this book largely started out as research into his backstory. It soon took over as a book in it's own right. So the only reason it's set in the 80's is because that's when Leon was a child. The riots of course were key to the plot but they came into the story after I had decided on the storyline of the two brothers being separated.

[KitdeWaal]

@BetterEatCheese

Evening Kit!

Hello Everyone! I'm going through the new and the old questions one by one so keep them coming! I'm a quick typist so will try to get through them!

[KitdeWaal]

@Givemecoffeeplease

This book is AMAZING. I'm a mum of two boys and I sobbed. My Q- would you return to the story and tell us where they both ended up? I'd love to see them as teens.

(But please make them happy!!)

Well, Givemecoffeeplease, I am planning another book when Leon is an adult but I CAN SAY NO MORE!!! You'll have to wait and see what happens!

[KitdeWaal]

@jonniesmum

A question for Kit - the book deals with topics that I guess are very close to your heart such as racism and the foster system but where did you find the inspiration for Leon's voice?

The inspiration for Leon's voice came partially from my son and partially because I'm quite juvenile myself and don't find it hard to daydream and think like a child. I'm 57 now and I've been waiting to grow up for a very long time. It hasn't happened yet!

[BetterEatCheese]

Very pleased you will be revisiting Leon. He comes across as such a strong and interesting character, such an individual and with great people around him. Would love to know what comes of them all!

[alialiath]

The part of the book that had me in tears was when Leon was taken to see his mum in the contact centre, and he was imitating the baby noises that Jake made, then he turned to his mum Carol and said ''I could be him mum, you could come back for me, and sometimes I could be him.''

My question for Kit - Are siblings still separated when they go into care today?

[KitdeWaal]

@Feelslikecrystal

Forgot to ask my questions - is there any more books on the way? And how did you cope working within child protection as it must have been an emotionally challenging environment?

Hi FeelslikeCrystal. Although I worked in Social Services I never worked directly in child protection. I never had the terrible and very difficult job of taking children away from their homes - even when it's the right thing to do. I trained foster carers and worked with older children but the critical side of the job, the coal face - that's for a different kind of social worker and I'm very glad I never had to do it. I have tried to be fair to social workers in the book - there are good and bad social workers like there are good and bad plumbers and postmen. The Zebra is actually really caring, going out of her way to get Leon a bike and really understanding him. She has a difficult job and she does it well and after all, compared to some children, Leon is quite safe.

[KitdeWaal]

@BetterEatCheese

I took this book on holiday with me and it was a real treat. I absolutely loved it and Kit’s style of writing. I felt that it conjured up such rich images and I felt that the characters were very well rounded, believable and very easy to empathise with. The view from Leon’s perspective was beautifully done and Kit captured the fleeting and confused nature of childhood thought and understanding, how it picks and chooses and clings to what adults would likely see as insignificant, or skips over things the adult world would regard as momentous. The relationships Leon had and the impacts of these on his life and how they developed and fed him with what he needed or pushed him into places he found difficult were very well written.
It is clear that Kit writes from a place of knowledge and the heartbreak which floods these pages is clearly very real. The story is one of ups and downs and I was pleased to see what looked like a happy ending or even beginning for Leon. The way the characters are all in his life as a unit, as a makeshift family in the end, is wonderful. I hope many children in his situation have such tough, real, imperfect, strong people who come together to provide something stable and fight their corners.

I would like to know if Kit's characters were based on people she knew. I am thinking in particular of her links to allotments as they seemed very real and likeable and the allotment life portrayed rang true to me in many ways.

Hello BetterEatCheese (one of my favourite pastimes incidentally!).
I did actually have an allotment and there were some real characters up there. There is quite a strict management system up at most allotments and lots you can and can't do so Mr. Devlin is a little bit like someone I knew who continually told me to mow the path or weed my beds! I didnt' see anyone like Tufty up there but I do know alot of Tufty's in my personal life.

[BetterEatCheese]

Yes that's the part I was laughing at, my allotment can be very strict and we are always conscious of our borders and weeds!

[MagicPenny]

Hi Kit, I also want to say thanks so much for such a brilliant summer read which I read in just 2 sittings. I read somewhere that you previously worked in family law. Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? At what stage did you change careers and how hard was it to change career paths to become an author?

[barricade]

Many thanks for answering my questions, Kit, especially out of the loads you have. (Lenny Henry? Good stuff! Whatever happens, there's someone who'll treat the material with respect).

And really interesting reading all your other responses, too. It's great to gain a little insight into the working mind of an accomplished author.

[BetterEatCheese]

Oh and my daughter has a little patch and the passion with which Leon plants and nurtures those little seeds is true of her. Captured wonderfully

[KitdeWaal]

@BouncingJellyfish

Just finished this book. It had me in tears. I was really rooting for Leon. I really wanted him to have a happy life. What inspired you to write this book? Was it from any personal experience?

Hi BouncingJellyfish, I can't tell you more about Leon's future but I can tell you that some of the book was written from personal experience. My mother was a childminder mainly and sometimes a foster carer and I saw first hand how disorientating it was for children to be with us and not at home. I also grew up as a mixed race children between and part of two worlds but unlike Leon I lived with my birth family and with my siblings to whom I am still very close. It was imagining my life without them that enabled me to write about Leon from the heart.

[KitdeWaal]

@BetterEatCheese

Oh and my daughter has a little patch and the passion with which Leon plants and nurtures those little seeds is true of her. Captured wonderfully

Ah! It's so lovely when children start to garden. One of the first things I grew at my allotment was the Scarlet Emperor runner beans. I unfortunately let them run away and never got to eat any!

[KitdeWaal]

@MagicPenny

Hi Kit, I also want to say thanks so much for such a brilliant summer read which I read in just 2 sittings. I read somewhere that you previously worked in family law. Did you always know that you wanted to be a writer? At what stage did you change careers and how hard was it to change career paths to become an author?

Hi MagicPenny, I have had several careers or jobs in my time. I've been a waitress, a massage therapist (disaster!), worked for the Crown Prosecution Service, defence lawyers, Divorce Court and in family law too. I didn't always know I wanted to be a writer but I always loved reading and that is definitely the first step for anyone that wants to write. Anyone can learn how to write by deconstructing the books you love that are well written. How did the writer hook me in? How did she describe that pain so well? Why did I get bored half way through? How can I avoid doing that in my own work?

It wasn't hard to change career because I was so determined and because once I was bitten by the bug I really went about learning the craft.

[BetterEatCheese]

Oh no! I'm going to try the variety next year so thanks for the tip. The community somewhere like that really comes through in your book as does what it means to people and what it can add to their lives, whatever age.

[KitdeWaal]

@alialiath

The part of the book that had me in tears was when Leon was taken to see his mum in the contact centre, and he was imitating the baby noises that Jake made, then he turned to his mum Carol and said ''I could be him mum, you could come back for me, and sometimes I could be him.''

My question for Kit - Are siblings still separated when they go into care today?

Hi Alialiath, yes children are still separated when they go into care today. Not always obviously but sometimes when there is a wide discrepancy of age or ethnicity or disability/ability. Sometimes this is for good reason - the children may have different needs, the children may have got into bad patterns of behaviour including abuse or control, or sometimes there are seven children to rehome and it would be almost impossible to find one family to take them all. But in the case of Leon and Jake where they love each other deeply and where race and age are the only reasons, it is such a shame. Babies, white babies are in massive demand in adoption. You can place a white baby in a new home twenty times but a nine year old mixed race boy is far, far more difficult.

[Celama]

Hi Kit, I enjoyed reading this although it was very emotive and I found myself moving from angry to sad to finding humour constantly - well done. I had been going to ask if there would be a book about Leon as an adult but you've already answered that so, what do you like to read to relax and which author would you recommend to others?!

[KitdeWaal]

@Reastie

I'm out tomorrow eve for web chat so posting my thoughts/question now.

Really enjoyed this. It was set in the year I was born and it was interesting to get a feel for what it was like at that time and loved seeing the story through the eyes of a child and found it very poignant.

I'd like to ask Kit did you get the idea to write a novel involving the care system and adoption because you have adopted yourself? And did you find it difficult to write from the mindset of a 9 year old mixed race boy?

Hello Reastie, yes I do have alot of experience of adoption having worked on adoption panels for many years, written training manuals on adoption and fostering and also have two adopted children. I have to say I usually just say 'children' as that's what they are to me! Working in adoption does enable you to see how new families can be made really successfully and how children are resilient and can find love in the most unexpected places. It is never as easy as 'love is enough' however. Often love is not enough. We have to, as adoptive parents, respect the fact that somewhere there are birth families with whom our children will always have a connection. That doesn't go away with an Adoption Certificate.

[Givemecoffeeplease]

Oh god I'm going to cry again just reading this thread. Life is so bloody cruel.

I can't wait to read what happens to Leon and hope you'll come back to Mumsnet to talk to us about it. We love a good book we do.

[alialiath]

That is so sad Through no fault of their own the child loses everything they've been brought up with, parents, neighbours, friends, locality and if they're older probably school.