Year 9 Incursion

Robert Newton recount

Robert Newton is the author of Runner.  We have been reading Runner and he visited our school on Monday the 29th of April. He discussed things from his past and his stories that were pretty fascinating.

The idea of Runner had come from his mother. When he was younger, his mother would tell him stories about the infamous gangster Squizzy Taylor. He was intrigued about the stories his mother told him and he thought, “What a great idea to write about”. He wanted the story to be from the perspective of a young boy named Charlie Feehan who is the protagonist in the story.

The novel Runner describes how people used to live in 1919, and he showed that through Charlie’s character. Charlie’s family had become very poor after his dad died. They were pretty much left with nothing but a roof over their head and the boots Charlie’s dad had given him.

The way Robert Newton portrayed his characters  gives you a good idea of how life used to be before technology and before women had a right to start working and it really makes you think about how privileged we really are these days.

During his visit I had asked him if he would ever think about writing a fictional story, like fantasy or mythica,l and he explained that’s not really his style and he sticks to more realistic things. I think Robert Newton is a really good author; he gives detail in his story without over doing it and his ideas are really creative. I would definitely recommend his stories to others

Monique Walsh 9C