Synopsis
My mum is a forget-me-not,
A bloom of white without a spot
And I’m a quiet melody
Just hibernating sleepily
William's mum digs a hole in the vegetable garden so deep that she disappears. Dad has to go out and pull her back up. The next morning, William's dad wakes up with a bouncing leg. "I just need to run it off", he says and disappears out the front door. William is left with his dog, Sausage, and a mum who is stuck. But then William has an idea and starts to sow a gorgeous dress made out of flowers for her.
Forget Me Not is about having a mum who cannot be there and a dad who is too afraid to be there. And about a son who just wants everything to be normal and the way it used to be. It's a book that gently describes how a child reacts when a parent suffers depression or otherwise disappears.
Personal note from the author
‘There are many ways to disappear as a parent. It can be into depression, work, a hobby or just mental absence. For a child, whatever the reason, the absence can have the same effect. I myself have experienced absent parents during periods of my childhood and know what it's like to lose contact with adults and feel a sense of loneliness. It is this feeling and condition that I wanted to describe in the book.’
‘It's interesting what William does to get his mum back. But it's not his responsibility. Children will often try to fix problems, but it's important for me to emphasise that it's never the children's responsibility to solve the adults' problems or to make things right again.’
