Episode 197: 10 minutes with Helen Edwards

April 9, 2025

In episode 197 of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast:

10 minutes with Helen Edwards

Allison chats to Dr Helen Edwards about her new middle-grade historical fiction novel ‘On Gallant Wings’, the drafting process and medals for bravery. Megan shares some insights into the 5 Laws of Library Science.

Books we mention

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Bookmail and TBR pile

‘The Girl and the Ghost’ by Jacqueline Harvey

‘Short Stories’ by Silvia Borando

‘Hidden Treasure’ by Jessie Burton

‘Wilder Zoo: Neeka and the Missing Key’ by Tina Strachan, illustrated by Max Hamilton

Other

Custom seed packets from The Seed Collection

Pre-order: ‘Willow Bright’s Secret Plot’ by A. L. Tait

10 minutes with Helen Edwards

About Helen Edwards

Dr Helen Edwards writes diverse stories of nature, magic and history. She is also a freelance writer, mentor and speaker and has a PhD in Psychology.

Helen has type 1 diabetes, and lives with anxiety and ADHD. She likes to include characters in her stories who are neurodivergent and/or who live with physical and mental health conditions, out in the world, having adventures.

Her latest novel is On Gallant Wings. Find out more.

About ‘On Gallant Wings’

Thirteen-year-old Ava lives in Darwin with her family and their homing pigeons, of which Essie is Ava’s favourite. A Japanese family live next door and their son, Kazuo, is Ava’s best and only real friend. Her father is serving overseas.

While Essie is taking her first flight, Ava overhears an argument between her mother, and her brother Fred, who has lied about his age to join the militia. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he trains in Darwin and later helps set up a pigeon service in Townsville. When most civilians are sent to safety down south, Ava remains in Darwin because her mother (who works in the post office) is essential to the war effort.

Later that day, military police take Kazuo and his family away in a truck to a holding camp—much to Ava’s distress—along with many other Japanese people who call Australia home.

On February 19, 1942, Darwin is bombed, and Ava and her mother are evacuated in a cattle train with the remaining women and children. After a very difficult journey, they arrive, exhausted, at her grandparent’s home in Lake Boga, where they discover the extent of the damage to Darwin is being concealed from the population. Even those who were actually there know only part of the truth.

Desperate to do something to contribute to the war effort, Ava’s mother joins the WAAAF and begins work at the secret Catalina Flying Boat Base.

In the meantime, the authorities decide to transfer Kazuo to the men’s camp, separating him from his parents and siblings.

Living by rules and rituals has always been how Ava has felt safe, but when Kazuo escapes, she is faced with the hardest decision of all—whether to report a ‘potentially dangerous’ escapee to the authorities, or to protect a beloved friend …

Find out more.

Published by Riveted Press

Listen to Helen read the first chapter of ‘Legend Of The Lighthouse Moon’, another of her acclaimed middle-grade historical fiction novels.