Mossley author publishes novel challenging traditional ideas of family

A Mossley-based author's latest novel will be released on June 18, challenging the traditional ideas of what constitutes family and exploring the raw emotions of grief.

Bonnie Meekums' 'A Kind of Family' delves into the life of Rachel who is in her forties and thinks she's lost her chance at love and the close-knit family she longs for, until she meets outgoing, community artist Fran who embraces life in a way Rachel has never experienced before.

Bonnie, a retired academic and psychotherapist, said some of the inspiration for the book stemmed from the Mãori idea of whanau, defined as a collective of people connected through a common 'ancestor'.

"I'm intrigued by the question of what family is - how we create it, how it comes about, how we bond. I have family in New Zealand and the family dynamic there is quite different to that in Western society," she said.

"I'm part of a stepfamily so I know what it's like to love children who are not biologically related to you - I don't treat them any different and I love them just the same."

Outside of writing, Bonnie enjoys growing vegetables, walking in the hills, reading, doing yoga and dancing. She teaches Dance Movement Therapy internationally and has published extensively about the arts therapies, but said that a few years before her retirement from academia, she rekindled her love of creative writing.

She said writers must develop "a really thick skin" as the most difficult part of the industry is the submission and decline you face continuously.

"I don't like to use the word 'rejection' because it sounds very personal and it's not a personal thing at all, sometimes it's just that they already have a very similar book or maybe they're not as interested in that particular genre."

She added: "It's always lovely when I unbox the first copies of my writing, I've known what the cover looks like for a while but actually holding it is just wonderful."

Reviews for the book have been described as "addictive" and "graceful yet heartbreaking".

"This book came to me when I needed it most, I just didn't know it yet," one reader wrote.

"It shows you true issues people go through inside their own family or when you are in the search to find one. 

"The characters' stories were written so beautifully that you can actually feel like you are a part of it and you can relate to them in so many levels. I thank this book for showing me the importance of family and how all of them are special in their own different way."

The book can be pre-ordered here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CZHZKY1Q.