Teenager Max’s life changes forever when he loses his hearing in a boating accident on a remote Scottish island. As he looks to make sense of his new life, and adapting in school, he begins to notice something strange and sinister happening to the islanders around him – a secret government test programme utilising the wind turbines, and it must be stopped. Victoria Williamson dives deeper into the inspiration of her book with Books from Scotland. 

 War of the Wind
By Victoria Williamson
Published by Neem Tree Press 

When I was growing up, I always found the sight of man-made structures slightly creepy. 

Until the age of five, I lived in Anniesland in Glasgow, and from the hill at Dawsholm Park, there was a view across the city which was dominated by the two towering gasometers of the old Temple gasworks. I don’t know why the sight of these two looming metal structures made me shiver uneasily as I was playing in the sandpit or on the swings, but I think I associated them with something other-worldly, something not quite human. They seemed somehow beyond my understanding, and therefore sinister. 

I had the same feeling about other man-made structures I came across around Glasgow as I grew up: the rickety old Spider Bridge connecting Kirkintilloch and Lenzie, the humming pylons that crisscrossed the fields south of the Campsie Hills, the extra-terrestrial form of the Bearyards water tower in Bishopbriggs.  An avid reader from an early age, I began to associate those structures with the science-fiction books that I loved to read, particularly with the alien-spaceships from War of the Worlds and The Tripods series, and with human experiments with technology that went wrong. When wind turbines started appearing across the landscape, I knew that they’d one day make an appearance in one of my novels. Even though I support green energy initiatives, I never quite managed to conquer my early misgivings at the sight of the imposing metal structures that loomed ominously through the mist on foggy days, and glinted eerily in the sunlight on bright mornings. I knew that when they made an appearance in one of my books, the turbines would serve a malevolent purpose. 

The seeds of War of the Wind were sown early in my childhood by these misgivings around artificial structures of concrete and steel, but the characters who appeared in the final novel took much longer to develop. Growing up, I had little direct experience of children with disabilities, either in school or in novels. It wasn’t until I was already at university in the late nineties that the debate about inclusive education really got underway – up until that point, children with additional support needs had been excluded from mainstream education, missing out on opportunities to learn alongside non-disabled peers in inclusive environments that would have been beneficial for all children. Fortunately, by the time I returned to university and trained as a primary school teacher myself, inclusive education had become the norm, and specialising in teaching children with additional support needs within mainstream settings, I had lots of opportunities to help children engage with each other. It wasn’t always a straightforward experience, as children without disabilities or a disabled family member themselves could sometimes bring prejudiced opinions to the classroom from outside.  

One thing I found that really helped overcome these misconceptions about what disabled people were able to achieve, was positive role models in children’s books. When I was young, disabled characters rarely appeared in books or on TV, and when they did, it was usually in a token or ‘sidekick’ role. The last fifteen years has seen a much greater understanding from the publishing industry of the need for inclusive books where all children get the chance to see themselves in heroic starring roles, which has been immensely helpful for teachers trying to promote inclusivity in their classrooms. It was seeing this need for visible representation in fiction, coupled with my own experiences of teaching children with additional support needs, which led to the development of the four main characters in War of the Wind – Max, who loses his hearing in a boating accident, Erin, who has been deaf since birth, Beanie, who has Down’s syndrome, and David, who has cerebral palsy. Like a number of similar mainstream children in real life, Max has some misconceptions about disability he needs to overcome, and readers go on a journey with him through the book as he learns to accept his own disability. Through his eyes, they see the assumptions that other islanders make about Max due to his hearing loss, as well as the assumptions Max himself makes about the other children in his additional support needs class. 

These journeys of understanding are ones we all need to embark on to help create a more inclusive world, confronting our prejudices and preconceived ideas. In War of the Wind, this journey of understanding is coupled with the sinister tale of a wind turbine experiment gone wrong, giving the main characters the opportunity to showcase their abilities as they attempt to stop the malevolent scientist, Doctor Ashwood, before his secret weapons trial has tragic consequences. This book has been the culmination of my life experiences so far, but like my readers, I hope I never stop learning from the experiences of others and developing my capacity for empathy. And who knows, if I try really hard, then perhaps one day I might even conquer my mistrust of the sinister structures that watch us silently from every hilltop as we go about our daily lives, heedless of their gaze and the messages they whisper on the wind…    

War of the Wind by Victoria Williamson is published by Neem Tree Press, priced £8.99.