Fairhaven author makes leap of faith into new genre.

A FAIRHAVEN based award-winning children’s and young adults’ author is turning the page on a new chapter of her writing journey with her first psychothriller The Half Brother.

As the writer of more than 35 novels for young audiences, Christine Keighery has made what she describes as “a huge leap of faith” into a new genre of writing she has always been keen to explore.

The Half Brother, which hit the shelves courtesy of Ultimo Press in April, examines family loyalties, sibling rivalry and the power of control.

The plot is based around main characters and sisters Hannah and Stef, who are very different but nevertheless, have an unbreakable bond.

The sisters are rocked by the news they have a half-brother called Alex, who over the course of time charms his way into their folds.

 

Through Hannah and Stef’s insecurities, Alex plays with his two half-sisters’ emotions and pits them against each other until all bonds are irrevocably broken.

As Alex’s own secrets are revealed, the sisters begin to realise who he really is, and are forced to deal with the unfortunate consequences.

Christine, who also writes under the name Chrissie Perry said The Half Brother has been one of the most rewarding challenges of her career.

“Until 2019, I was only working on children’s books, but then decided to have a go at a psychological thriller.

“From experimenting with these shorter stories for adults, I became besotted with these two sisters Hannah and Stef who I thought could be good 3D characters.

“To make it a bit more of a page turner, I added the wildcard of Alex to jazz it up.

“I always wanted to try an adult novel at some point and given I’m getting a bit older, I thought I’d try something different.

“I’d been working to contract for over thirty years, so to do this on my own before Ultimo picked it up was a huge leap of faith.

“I knew I had a lot of the skillset, but to spend a couple of years on a project you don’t know is going to get up, takes a bit of optimism and dedication.”

Christine is best known for writing thirteen books in the highly successful Go Girl! series and is also the author of Penelope Perfect and award-winning novel Whisper.

 

Her work has been published in ten countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Slovenia and Korea and taken out prestigious prizes including the international White Raven and IBBY awards for book and literature excellence.

Christine said from early on in her life, she knew she wanted to be an author and writer.

“There was always funny stories and books flying around the house when I was a child.

“Dad used to pull his teeth out, make up stories and do funny characters.

“Because of my upbringing, my love of reading and books started at a really young age.

“It just grew from there.”

 

Christine’s first big break as an author came with her best-selling product to date Go Girl!, a chapter book series for children where girls encounter real life fun and real-life problems.

“I was living in Fairhaven and just bought my daughter what was at the time, the new Go Girl! series.

“I just thought they were fantastic stories.

“It was all about managing conflicts and fears and ultimately was very relatable for young readers.

“I actually rang the conditioning editor and asked if I could have a go at one of these in about 2005.

“From then on, we worked on over 35 books.

“I don’t think you could do it anymore and get straight onto the editor like I did!

“There was freedom and it was a fantastic learning curve for me.”

 

Christine said many of her creative ideas have come from sitting at her beachfront home in Fairhaven.

The location continues to be a great place for Christine to escape, think and explore a sense of freedom and creative expression.

“I just love it and tend to write really well down there.

“My dream when I was a kid was to be a writer on a clifftop overlooking the ocean.

“Ironically, I can do it.

“When the kids were younger, which they’re now in their twenties, I’d sit in the house and just write all day.

“They were some of my most productive and best years.

“The Surf Coast is a beautiful place to write or think.

“I can really commit to my writing down there.”

 

Even though it’s early days Christine said there has been promising signs The Half Brother could be one of her most successful projects yet.

“Almost unanimously, the feedback we’ve gotten has been really positive and fantastic.

“It’s been picked up by the best publisher in Australia at this point in Ultimo too.

“Even though they [Ultimo] are new, they’ve hit the ground running and it’s already the publisher people want to be with.

“When I speak to other publishers, it’s ‘oh my gosh you’ve got Ultimo’.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how it flies in the market.”

For more on The Half Brother and Christine Keighery, head to chrissieperry.com/