The Prime Minister Problem by Brenton Cullen
Guest Post about The Prime Minister Problem by Brenton Cullen for Paperbark Words Blog
Loneliness is often talked about like it only touches certain people.
Kids feel it at school, sitting on the edges of friendship groups. Older people feel it in quieter homes or aged care, where the days can stretch on for ages. We tend to separate those experiences, like they exist in completely different worlds, but they really are all one and the same.
And while I was writing The Prime Minister Problem, I kept coming back to the idea that loneliness doesn’t really fit into a neat category. It isn’t limited by age, or where you live, or what your life looks like. It’s something that can exist across all of it, and can affect anybody.
That idea sits at the centre of my book. It follows Wren, a ten-year-old boy who has always felt a bit invisible, at school, at home, practically everywhere. The one person who truly sees him is his beloved Grandma. When she has a stroke and is moved into an aged care facility in the faraway city (because their regional town has no nursing home, and Wren’s mum cannot fiscally or physically care for her), that connection is suddenly disrupted, and Wren is left trying to make sense of a loneliness that suddenly feels much bigger than he expected.
Out of that, he does something small. He writes a letter to the Prime Minister of Australia, asking for her help to build a nursing home in his small town, so Grandma can come home. And it ends up snowballing into something bigger, that sparks a national conversation about loneliness and connection, and Wren goes viral for his efforts, all across Australia.
As Wren begins to understand his own feelings, he also starts to see loneliness in other people, especially older people in his community, which leads him to begin an ‘Adopt a Grandparent’ program, promoting intergenerational friendship. That’s where he sparks a friendship with an elderly man named Les, who at first just seems grumpy or closed off, but Wren realises, slowly, there is something deeper underneath. There’s grief there. There’s isolation. There’s a story that hasn’t really been heard.
There’s about sixty years’ age gap between Wren and Les, but emotionally, they’re not that different. That connection between them became one of the most important parts of the book for me. In the story, those connections become part of the solution. People showing up for each other. Building something together, even if it starts small.
Originally, I began writing the book when I thought it would be a funny story about a kid running for Prime Minister. The title stayed the same, but within the first chapter or two, the story shifted all by itself. It became quieter, more grounded in people and relationships than politics. What emerged was a story about who gets seen, who gets heard, and the difference one quiet person can make. It’s like the story knew what it was meant to be about all along, and I had to chip away and find the true heart of the book, and of Wren himself as a character.
Wren is quiet, observant, and not the kind of kid who takes up a lot of space; he shrinks himself, because that’s always been the safest thing to do. It was important to me that he didn’t have to become someone completely different to make a difference. He grows in confidence, but he’s still thoughtful and shy and empathetic. Those qualities are exactly why he’s able to notice what’s happening around him. I didn’t want him to feel he had to become loud or outwardly extroverted; I wanted him to still be who he naturally is, even at the end of the story once he’s become famous in his town, to show that even quiet people can make a difference, just as they are.
Growing up in regional Queensland, I used to think that opportunities, especially the dream of being an author, belonged to people in the cities. But over time, I’ve realised that’s not really true. Stories come from wherever you are, no matter how small the place might seem.
The same goes for connection. It doesn’t have to be big to mean something.
Change doesn’t have to start big. It just has to start.
The Prime Minister Problem (Riveted Press, April 28) is available from all good bookstores and online retailers.
Author bio:
Brenton Cullen is a children’s author from regional Queensland. His debut middle-grade novel, The Prime Minister Problem, explores loneliness, intergenerational connection and the quiet power of community. He is the recipient of the Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship from the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust. You can find him at www.brentoncullen.com or on Instagram @brenton_cullen.
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