AustLit

'Richardson's story follows the adventure of Jason Chen after he learns of a strange and powerful machine lurking in his neighbour's backyard. The neighbour, Mrs Bryant, is heralded as the 'weirdo' in town, but when she tells Jason she can't succeed in her dangerous mission without him, Jason agrees to join her for a ride in her Time Banana. Travelling back to the 1860s, with the Great Fire of Brisbane looming, Jason and Mrs Bryant must ask themselves, do they dare to tinker with the Past?

"The ideas behind this adventure story stem from deep-routed and important aspects of Brisbane's history and culture. "The anti-Chinese riot in Brisbane and rumours about a fire being started to discredit the local Chinese," says Richardson. "The parallels between that and the backwash of One Nation and other spreaders of racist ideas were interesting, and I wanted a way to bring them together". Richardson's interest in Brisbane's history and the education of its inhabitants came together as a motivation for writing Jason Chen and the Time Banana. "I've found very few locals know about the Fire of Brisbane in 1864, and yet they know about the Fire of London."' (Publisher's press release)