Ida, the main character, is Vietnamese-Australian. I wrote Ida before I realised the importance of ownvoices stories. When a white author writes a main character of colour, they’re taking up space and opportunities that could have otherwise gone to an author of colour. I thought that if I used sensitivity readers and did my research, I could do a good job - but that’s not the point. It’s not my place to write these characters as POV characters, and I won’t do it again.
Before you check out Ida, have a look at these books and stories:
The Coconut Children Vivian Pham
Laurinda by Alice Pung
Meet me at the Intersection eds Rebecca Lim and Ambelin Kwaymullina
How do people decide on a path, and find the drive to pursue what they want?
Ida struggles more than other young people to work this out. She can shift between parallel universes, allowing her to follow alternative paths.
One day Ida sees a shadowy, see-through doppelganger of herself on the train. She starts to wonder if she's actually in control of her ability, and whether there are effects far beyond what she's considered.
How can she know, anyway, whether one universe is ultimately better than another? And what if the continual shifting causes her to lose what is most important to her, just as she's discovering what that is, and she can never find her way back?
Ida was published in 2017 by Echo Publishing for ages 15+. You can buy a copy at your local bookshop or find it at your local library. I like Rabble Books and Hares and Hyenas.