More About Ash
Ash Tough was born in Brisbane but spent most of her childhood on the Gold Coast. Her love of reading and fantasy was inspired at an early age, after which she was rarely without a book in hand. While studying Law, International Relations and Japanese at Griffith University, Ash took an opportunity to live and study in Europe. The breathtaking landscapes and architecture she found there, inspired her to create the world of Holly & Oak: Season One¸ which is her first published novel.
She recently returned to the Gold Coast after some time living and working in Brisbane.
Conversations with the Authour
WHY DID YOU WRITE ‘HOLLY & OAK’? WHAT WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS?
This book came out of a difficult part of my life. Within the space of about three months, my grandfather passed away, I was made redundant, I had some health problems, family problems and my purchase of what would have been my first home fell through. At the time, it felt like everything in my life just spontaneously imploded. I looked at it as an opportunity to re-evaluate what I wanted to achieve and how I wanted to spend my time. Writing was one of the things I had enjoyed but that just got pushed to the side when it came to work and study. I recommitted to writing and telling this story became both a way to find my way out of a difficult time but to also process some of what had just happened.
WHAT DREW YOU TO THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE BOOK AND ALSO THESE CHARACTERS WITHIN?
The idea for the novel came about in a really odd way. I’d been watching a few shows that have one actor play multiple characters simultaneously. In a lot of these depictions there is a recurring theme of two people who, while similar in appearance, have very different personalities, perspectives and traits. As such, I was really interested in writing a story which had that dichotomy between two people at its core. Due to some of the early choices I made around how that relationship would be reflected, it just felt natural to set the story in world of Faeries and Fae.