ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN DE MODE JAN V1 2024 VOL VII. ISSUE XXXIX | LITERATURE
Article Published on: 05TH FEB 2024 | www.demodemagazine.com
"THE DIARY OF KATY YEHONALA" - BY AUTHOR ROBERT BARCLAY
The Diary of Katy Yehonala, the first in The Butterfly Dynasty series, is a tale as old as stories about love conquering all—but with a twist. Oh yes, and family is the only poem. We all need heroines.
First, they were quiet heroines like Lisa Simpson, Hermione Granger and Mulan. Later, other heroines emerged for us, often from humble beginnings, who changed the world or who let us imagine a better one and rose like the Phoenix in our imagination. They were Jeanne d'Arc. Edith Cavell and Sophie Scholl and a hundred more who sacrificed themselves in the service of men’s wars and a paternal god who took their lives as a lesson to other like-minded females.
Which brings me to The Butterfly Dynasty. That’s my creation for the world of Katy and Clara Yehonala. The heroines in my novels have their roots in the past, too, and originated in places far apart in distance and time: the Dominican Republic and Imperial Dynastic China. The dynasty part is easy. Katy, her daughter Clara, and her mother are descendants of the last Qing ruler, Empress Cixi. A woman who ruled over a quarter of Earth’s population for nearly fifty years. No mean feat, despite her achievements being whitewashed by historians.
But why butterflies? Here, we must travel to the Dominican Republic. The Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva and María Teresa, are remembered worldwide for spreading ripples of defiance against the dictator Rafael Trujillo and were known as “las mariposas” (the butterflies). The sisters became a symbol of resistance for their unwavering efforts to organise a revolution despite abuse and arrests until their assassination on November 25, 1960. The fallen Mirabals are commemorated today on the anniversary of their death, now known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. These lost sisters and their iconic symbol of the butterfly have become woven into the fabric of the feminist movement spreading throughout the world, becoming an archetype for the continuing fight against gender-based violence and subjugation everywhere.
Upcoming Book - The Girl in the Orphanage is available. Cassie’s Song is due for release on February 28.
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JOURNEY OF THE AUTHOR ROBERT BARCLAY
Robert grew up in an English village, the repository of 1000 years of history engraved on the tombstones of its Norman Church. Without mobile phones, TV or the Internet, he made up stories. Nowadays, the travel-worn novelist lives in a gold miner’s cottage in Beechworth, a historical town in Victoria, Australia. He lives quietly with his tiny poodle, Clara, devoting himself to writing.
Between time, he found himself a clearance diver in the labyrinthine, murky waterways of the Mekong Delta, dismantling booby traps during the Vietnam War, where he received two commendations for bravery. The genesis for his novels came about from seeing first-hand the war-ravaged villages of Vietnam and Cambodia and the children affected by war.
Robert has since spent many years in Asia, and his storytelling reflects his life experiences living around the world and from random meetings with strangers. Robert’s love of exotic places, their people and their love stories brings readers an evocative sense of time and place. His desire to tell meaningful stories came first with The Diary of Katy Yehonala—he is one of the first Australian authors to explore themes of Chinese women as they mould their futures from a traditional past to carry them successfully into the centuries ahead.
Robert’s novels are love stories in the total sense and pursue a universal theme of strong women immersed in momentous times—child trafficking, women’s ascendancy, environmental destruction and misplaced values. Robert believes literary fiction enriches the world and storytelling matters because we live in a world where the distractions of technology dominate and diminish our lives.
Robert's current life in country Australia differs greatly from his rural Hampshire childhood and adventurous past. Despite the contrasts, there's a sense that the circle may be complete, hinting at a possible alignment or resolution between his past experiences and his present lifestyle.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW OF AUTHOR ROBERT BARCLAY WITH DE MODE
Q: "The Butterfly Dynasty" series explores the lives and loves of extraordinary women against the backdrop of momentous social issues. What inspired you to embark on this trailblazing literary journey, and how do these women's stories resonate with contemporary issues?
A. That’s a lot to cover in sixty words! I saw first-hand the largely unknown human tragedies of Vietnam, Cambodia and China in the seventies because I was there. My stories retell those monumental events through the loves and losses of my quirky, ill-equipped heroines by painting their lives as analogies for how those countries evolved onto the world stage.
Q: "The Diary of Katy Yehonala" was a nominee for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Can you share the genesis of this sweeping saga and the significance of being recognised for such a prestigious literary accolade?
A. For me, the significance was the recognition of literary fiction over genre fiction. It’s less popular as there isn’t that certainty of a happily ever after—it's “to be continued”. The nomination was a great honour because the book is about morality (not the preachy kind; the being true to yourself kind), and I’m pleased such literature has a place.
Q: The novel spans three generations of women in the bloodiest era of Chinese history. How did you navigate the complexities of historical storytelling, and what challenges did you face in crafting a narrative that spans such a tumultuous period?
A. Authors don’t have a free pass to change history. Things happen when they happen, and an author must remain faithful to the facts. Beyond that, we can weave any imaginary narrative we choose. The challenge of the book was not to navigate historical complexities but to explore the nature of family and events through the eyes of one young woman.
Q: Each woman in "The Diary of Katy Yehonala" fulfils unique destinies. Can you delve into the process of developing these characters and their journeys, particularly against the historical backdrop of China?
A. I wanted Katy’s mother to represent traditional China before Mao; Katy to live through the Cultural Revolution, born into one world and adapting to another; and Katy’s daughter Clara to represent the New China and a new breed of Asian woman, sassy and well-educated, talented and centre-stage—yet, like all Chinese, each tethered by 5000 years of tradition.
Q: Your upbringing in a small English village and later experiences as a clearance diver in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War are diverse and impactful. How do these varied life experiences influence your storytelling, and do you find echoes of your storytelling, and do you find echoes of your own experiences in your characters?
A. I think life experience matters when writing compelling stories. Stories matter. Curiously, writing is a form of wish-fulfilment. Characters in my stories are representations of me—a retelling of personal experiences under various disguises and genders, of dreams fulfilled and unfulfilled, of choices made or never made. Writing is the literary version of the psychoanalyst’s “talking cure”.
Q: As a citizen of the world, your love for exotic places is evident in your novels. How do you approach creating an evocative sense of time and place in your storytelling, and how important is the setting as a character in your books?
A. Even novels are true, you know! Readers are intelligent; they invest money and time in books to escape into an imaginary world an author creates–but real for them—because that’s what storytelling is. My books tell stories of places I’ve lived with helpings of nostalgia and hope added, told through a writer’s eye and my imaginary heroines’ experiences.
Q: "Cassie's Song" and "Clara Yehonala Plays Chopin" are part of your body of work. How do these novels contribute to the overarching themes explored in "The Butterfly Dynasty" series, and are there common threads that connect these stories?
A. My novels shine a light on the world’s evils and bring them into focus through the quirky lives and loves of my heroines. The common thread in my novels is the personal growth of the heroines through their adventures, which I hope appeal to a reader’s curiosity, be entertaining, and raise awareness of the amazing world we live in.
Q: Do you have any upcoming projects or themes you are excited to explore in your future literary works, and how do you envision your storytelling evolving in the future?
A. My fourth novel explores the themes of personal sacrifice, the price of fame and repressed grief in three overlapping stories; I’m excited by the challenge of creating more “classical” literary fiction set against traumatic social upheavals—places a reader can imagine but may never care to visit themselves. Also by seeing my work available in new media like audiobooks.