What if colours could speak? The Boy Who Saw In Colours: A raw novel, set amid Nazi uprising, chronicles the life of a boy who dared to dream... As his family collapses and Josef and his brother are sent to one of Hitler's elite schools, Josef learns to express his grief and feelings of growing up in the only way he knows how - painting.
It came in pieces.
The first was a photograph I saw when I was back in high school, depicting a young boy crying when he was captured towards the end of WW2. Why was he crying? What did he see? What was he told? Even at a young age, I came to a realisation: Hate preys on the fragile and young, and history is always repeating itself.
The second realisation came as a bit of a fluke. My creative mind regularly takes over, and I enjoy playing around with words - like poetry. I began writing things like hearing colours and tasting smells. A quick Google search confirmed that my main character has synthesisa, and I started writing it into the story.
The third will no doubt make the history buff swoon. I wanted to be faithful to the period, so I spent years researching minute details that will go unnoticed by the average reader, but history fans will appreciate it. I cannot mention this without giving a massive thanks to Henry Hyde, who helped me research some of those things, as did a whole lot more for me in the process, including the gorgeous cover design.
I wanted to make the characters real and authentic, and so I drew from my experiences with my childhood friends. Although, at some point, I stopped seeing them like that and starting seeing the characters as unique individuals.
The children living in Nazi Germany become lost in an upside-down world where real bravery is replaced with bravado, and love is displaced by loyalty. Children idolise those who make them feel good, especially in a period when you limited to who you can be and what you can do. I knew there was a story there, and I began to write.
In a world that's telling him who he has to be, Josef is trying to find the root of who he really is. He is an artist, and unlike most books that simply have a character be great, we see Josef working hard just to become good. We understand the pain of his passion, and we are rooting for him on his journey to greatness.
I didn't want to write the story for the publishers, or the critics or even a particular audience. Initially, writing like the manuscript would never see the light of day. That's how I could be sure to keep my unique voice, and as a result, we have a very different kind of novel.
The children living in Nazi Germany become lost in an upside-down world where real bravery is replaced with bravado, and love is displaced by loyalty. Children idolise those who make them feel good, especially in a period when you limited to who you can be and what you can do. I knew there was a story there, and I began to write.
In a world that's telling him who he has to be, Josef is trying to find the root of who he really is. He is an artist, and unlike most books that simply have a character be great, we see Josef working hard just to become good. We understand the pain of his passion, and we are rooting for him on his journey to greatness.
I didn't want to write the story for the publishers, or the critics or even a particular audience. Initially, writing like the manuscript would never see the light of day. That's how I could be sure to keep my unique voice, and as a result, we have a very different kind of novel.
Lauren Robinson
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About the Author
(Photo credits Henry Hyde for the book cover and Stephen Bradley from BoutYe magazine for the author photo.)
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