Rachel Reads & Reviews

Melati Lum is a lawyer specializing in criminal law whose work helps her craft the Ayesha Dean Mysteries. She kindly took the time answer my questions about writing one of the few female Muslim heroines in middle grade fiction, travel and what’s coming next from her pen.

1. Can you share a bit about your background and how books have influenced you?

My parents migrated to Australia from Malaysia in the 1970s before I was born. Back then, the place I lived had very few people of colour in our community and very few Muslims. As I was growing up in a white dominant environment, I wanted to fit in, but was frequently reminded that I was different not only because of how I looked, but also because of my religion. Even so, I was lucky to have a great childhood with loving parents and a tightknit community, as well as supportive friends from various backgrounds and religions.

I’ve loved reading from a young age. I think the ability to experience different worlds, different times, settings, and points of view just by picking up a book has always been and continues to be fascinating for me. It’s hard to compute just how much books have influenced me because so much of my knowledge about everything comes from books.

2. You began in criminal law, what started your pivot to writing?

I’ve had a dream of being a writer for a long time, but never did anything about it. I was finally motivated to start writing when the publishing industry was opened to self-publishing in around 2015 and I knew there were hardly any books around for a preteen audience featuring a Muslim protagonist.

I’d previously tried to find entertaining books for my son when he was a preteen that had a main character who perhaps had a similar background to him, or was a person of colour, which wasn’t the norm according to the traditional publishing industry in Australia. I couldn’t find what I was looking for. So, when self-publishing became an option, I worked up the courage to start writing and give it a go myself.

3. How does your other profession influence how you plot your mysteries?

The latest novel in the Ayesha Dean Mysteries, The Lisbon Lawbreaker, is closer to a police procedural than the previous two. For many of the scenes, given my background as a prosecutor who worked daily with detectives, I didn’t have to do a lot of research into how things work in the criminal justice system. I could rely on my knowledge and experiences in the industry.

What was more of a challenge though, was how to bring real life processes into a fictional novel for preteens without any of the bureaucracy and slow-moving parts from real life. In the novel, for the criminal justice aspect of it, I had to keep things moving at a faster pace than what would often ordinarily occur in real life.

4. Ayesha Dean is one of the few female Muslim protagonists in children’s literature, how do you feel about her impact?

When Ayesha Dean first came on the scene, I felt relief at being able to offer this character as an alternative to what was already out there. Knowing readers have related to her and enjoyed her escapades is something that makes all the effort worthwhile. I’m happy young Muslims who may not have seen themselves reflected in the books they’ve read before can now find a bit of themselves in Ayesha, and I know of a lot of young people who have Muslim friends in their class at school have enjoyed reading a story from a different perspective from what they’re used to.

In places like Australia, the USA and UK, our communities are diverse and multicultural, and the next generation of readers are looking for books and stories that are more reflective of the world they live in today. I’m glad the Ayesha Dean Mysteries have contributed to the diversification of children’s literature.