How are you and Letty similar, and how are you different?
Letty loves lace and those gorgeous Victorian dresses because I do and I wanted to have them in the Our Australian Girl books! Letty is a younger sister, whereas I was a bossy older sister, but we are both trustworthy and responsible. Letty loves babies, more than I did when I was a kid. And she had a tougher childhood than I did.
If Letty were around today, what would she do on Saturday mornings?
I think she would lie in bed and her younger brothers and sisters would climb in and snuggle with her. She might sing songs with them. Later she might talk Lavinia into making cupcakes together.
Alison, when you sat down to start the OAG books, what was the first sentence you wrote?
‘The coachman dumped the hope chest in the street.’ I started at the beginning.
What’s one thing you wish you could do really well but have always been too timid to try?
When I was a girl I always thought soccer looked like fun. But I wasn’t good at sports, I had no brothers, and there were no football teams for girls then. So I never tried. I also wish I could ride a horse properly. One day . . .
Do you have one piece of advice for OAGs everywhere?
Every Australian girl’s story is unique and precious. You are significant whether you’re in a book or not! As Abner says to Letty in the first book, ‘”He tells the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.” If the Lord God can tell the stars apart, he knows me too. And you.’