Brisbane Grammar teacher Carla Salmon signs two-book deal with Pan Macmillan

A Pan MacMillan author’s debut novel is out next month, drawing plenty of inspiration from her childhood in Gympie and the Sunshine Coast.

Author Carla Salmon is a Brisbane-based teacher, who drew on her childhood as inspiration for We Saw What You Started.

Gympie-raised teacher Carla Salmon has signed a two-book deal with leading publisher Pan MacMillan, and her first will hit the shelves next month.

We Saw What You Started is a coming-of-age mystery novel with a coastal setting inspired by Rainbow Beach, and plenty of elements drawn from the author’s small-town memories.

“My heart has always been in Gympie, and there were so many stories from my childhood I could weave in,” Ms Salmon said, whose book is available July 1.

The novel, aimed at audiences aged 11-15, sees its Californian teen protagonist battle to prove his innocence in a new town, after a string of suspicious fires.

Author Carla Salmon after singing her two-book deal with Pan Macmillan

Ms Salmon said the American protagonist offered a different approach to the classic Aussie beach town trope.

“I studied at Bond University on the Gold Coast, and really my first communication there was with Americans,” the 41-year-old James Nash State High School alumnus said.

“Seeing their perspective on the Australian lifestyle felt like something fresh.”

The author, who is also a teacher at Brisbane Grammar, described her book as capturing the same adventurousness of The Famous Five novels.

“The idea behind the novel “all started with an impossible request list from my son on books he wanted with a sporty theme,” she said.

With We Saw What You Started full of golden-haired Surf Life Saving types, she said it’s safe to say her son’s wishes were met.

The author said her experiences in regional and coastal Queensland bled into the book’s small-town atmosphere, where “everyone knows each other, for better or worse”.

“I grew up around surf clubs, small towns and big skies,” she said.

“In small towns, you can’t burn bridges, and when something goes wrong, you can’t escape.

“That sense of community and tension sits at the heart of this story.”

Author Carla Salmon after singing her two-book deal with Pan Macmillan

Despite its brooding premise, Ms Salmon said she hoped the novel would show readers “that everything is ‘figureoutable’.”

“Even good kids who make bad choices can rebuild.”

Ms Salmon said her book aimed to fill the increasingly neglected Australian market for not-quite young adult fiction in “that tricky middle space where capable readers often fall through the cracks.”

She made full use of her role as a Brisbane Grammar middle schoolteacher, reaching out to students, as well as her own children for feedback.

“My son and daughter were my first editors — they didn’t hold back!” she said.

“I tried to get feedback from as broad a range as possible — we’ll see when it’s released, but so far, so good.”

Despite going part-time at school to manage her writing, Ms Salmon said crafting her novel “became a passion, so it didn’t feel like work.”

Ms Salmon said she is well into finishing her second book, set in the same world, and slated for release mid-2026.