Universal themes in young adult novel

HOPE and a realisation young people share similar feelings are what one Ballarat writer wanted readers to take from her debut novel.

This month, Annie Drum released Don’t Forget to Remember Me, a heartfelt and emotionally resonant young adult tale that centres on first love, friendship and searching for identity.

After years of working with teenagers through social welfare programs, Drum began identifying universal themes.

“I suppose I see the struggles that young people often have about fitting in, about friendships, who’s going to like me, how can I talk about my strange family, what if I’m not like everybody else?” Drum said.

“All these themes just kept coming across, so I thought I’d write a story about young people who feel like they don’t fit in but they’re able to form friendships anyway.

“I think it leaves readers with a sense of hope that when we feel like we’re alien and we’re different and we’re too weird to fit in, we’re actually not.”

She said young people needed reassurance and confidence because of the indirect way they communicated with peers on platforms such as social media.

Drum said she found young people fascinating.

“Fascinated by their rawness, by their vulnerability, when they do trust in someone to tell them something, that’s a really brave thing to do,” she said.

“I was a pretty lonely teenager and felt like a real misfit in myself, and I had friends, but I felt like I was just so different from them. Looking back, I really wasn’t.

“I’m hoping that readers will go away with a sense of, of feeling a sense of hope.”

Don’t Forget to Remember Me is available at bakerslane.com.au