I have a confession to make: I’m an imposter. A blow in. A Johnny-come-lately, if you will.
I grew up on the North Shore, but married into the Northern Beaches fam when I met my husband, the quintessential local surfy boy. Born and raised in Manly, I soon realised that moving my hubby away from here would be like taking a fish out of water. This is where he thrived. So I relocated here for him (all the way from Turramurra, mind you) under the pretence we’d live here five years or so then move to the Upper North Shore.
Fast forward twenty years, and I’m still here. It’s safe to say they’ll be carrying me out of here in a box; does that make me a local?
I cannot imagine a better place to raise our four boys, here by the beach, surrounded by parks and oceans and fresh air. I actually don’t know what people who don’t live by the beach do all weekend? Our boys range in age from nine to fifteen and have had the privilege of growing up here. The outdoorsy lifestyle is so good for our kids’ physical and mental health and we never run out of things to do.
Plus it’s a really inspiring place to write.
Last year, when I was in the process of launching my debut novel, DESCENDED, I hired a social media manager who lived in New York. The first piece of advice he gave me? The book’s set on the Northern Beaches, so please post heaps of content about Manly. Why? Because according to him, for those living overseas, the Northern Beaches region of Australia is considered a totally covetable, exotic paradise.
And they’re not wrong.
Sometimes I think I take the beauty of this place for granted. But then I open my eyes and really see it for what it is and my gratitude kicks in, big time. We’re so lucky to dwell amongst teeming marine parks, native bushland, waterfalls, epic surf breaks, iconic white sand beaches, and aquamarine seas, all right here on our doorstep. We truly live in paradise.
They say write what you know, and it felt so wonderfully authentic to celebrate Manly on the page. I loved having my characters surfing at Bower and Queensie, leaping off Jump Rock, running the trails of Many Dam, and hanging out on the Corso. And what better place to hide an evil lair than the secret tunnels located beneath North Fort up at North Head?
DESCENDED is essentially a coming of age love story set in the 1990s against the backdrop of Manly. I really wanted everyone to see what a special place our little corner of the world is to grow up in. The world has changed so much these past few years, and the 90s kind of feels like the last bastion of innocence in many ways, a long gone era we’ll never see again. Back then the insults were slurrier, society was more laid back but less tolerant, and kids had unsurveilled freedom. No mobile phones or social media meant trials, tribulations, and mistakes mostly stayed at the scene of the crime, and political correctness was a largely theoretical concept not many abided by.
Right or wrong, those days are firmly in the past, and I wanted my kids to experience the childhood we had, to read about what it was like in the ‘good old days’. Who remembers recording Beverly Hills, 90210 on VHS so you could watch it later and fast forward the ads? Who remembers rushing to the video shop on a Friday night to try and snag that last copy of the latest new release of Ghost or Point Break? And of course, how could we forget the music, which was so raw and angsty? DESCENDED even comes with a QR code that takes you to an epic 90s Spotify playlist so you can play along at home while you read.
Originally marketed as YA, we soon found that mums were stealing their kids copies of DESCENDED to read themselves because the 90s nostalgia was immersing them back in those aforementioned good old days and taking them on a trip down memory lane. So many mums have reached out to say it’s the first book both them and their teen have read and loved equally for different reasons. It’s also apparently opened up discussions at home about mental health, bullying, death, love and relationships, and the meaning of life.
Despite the fact there are no vampires or werewolves in DESCENDED, readers are calling it Twilight meets Puberty Blues meets Looking for Alibrandi meets Heartbreak High. An epic romance steeped in fantasy and magical realism, DESCENDED explores predestination, and whether love can span lifetimes, gently delving into the meaning of life and pondering the parts of us that remain after death.
DESCENDED has been described as an imaginative tour-de-force debut about the big and small decisions we make every day, and the ripple effect they have on the rest of time – even if they’re celestially pre-determined.
It follows Manly boy Indigo Wolfe, the mysterious high school heart throb everyone wants to be or be with, who’s barely holding on by a thread, and his relationship with Harbord girl Cordelia Carlisle and her family. When Indigo meets Cordelia, he’s hit with a sense of recognition that traverses lifetimes. But is she his soul mate, or are Indigo and Cordelia destined to be torn apart, time and time again, life after life…? Set between Manly, New York and Sedona, the locations of this novel are as much the stars as the main characters.
When I was invited to partake in the inaugural Manly Writers’ Festival, I was so honored and excited. I mean, I’m a Manly girl with a book set in Manly, it’s perfect, right? Next Friday 15th and Saturday 16th March, I’ll be sitting on two panels alongside some other amazing local authors. On Friday I’ll be discussing the topic ‘Everyone has at least one book in them, don’t they?’, and on Saturday I’ll be chatting about love in the ‘A fine romance’ panel.
I can’t wait to discuss all things, books, love, and Northern Beaches. These are literally my favourite topics, so they may have a hard time shutting me up! I may not have been born on these white-sand shores, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t my hometown.
Because Manly is my home.
Because Manly is iconic.
Because Manly is representative of the laid back lifestyle and quintessential beach culture Australia is renowned for.
Manly has so much natural beauty.
It truly is a magical place and I am blessed to live here.
Ingrid J. Adams is a debut author of ‘Descended’, an epic love story steeped in fantasy set in the early 1990’s on the beaches of Manly in Sydney, Australia. It is the first in a four book series.
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