If you need a refresher here are the profiles of the characters in Tamika Wood’s Birthday Party! If you’re not up to date with the story be warned that scrolling too far on this page may reveal spoilers for later parts of the story.
Location
Tamika Wood’s Birthday Party takes place in the fictional town of Havenport.
It isn’t a real place so that it can be exactly the right size and distance from other places for the events of the story to make sense. It isn’t a real place which exists anywhere but the place where it doesn’t exist is somewhere between Woollongong and Nowra on the South Coast in New South Wales.
If some of the times it takes to get places don’t make sense based on the existing town and cities, airports, rail lines, roads and geography of this area I apologise. In this fictional version of the South Coast I guess things are different. It didn’t seem important enough to care about accuracy here and I focussed my fact-checking on things like references to television shows and movies of the time and whether people still called text messages “SMS”.
Driving distances from…
- Sydney – three hours
- Woollongong – half an hour
- Melbourne – nine hours
People
Part One
Part one begins in October 1998 and ends in October 1999.
Point of View Characters
ALAN SEBASTIAN Parker
- Scott’s best friend
- Michelle’s twin brother
- Gillian’s son
Alan Sebastian is 15 years old. He likes to be called and to call people by their names. He lives with Gillian and Michelle.
SCOTT Maher
- Alan Sebastian’s best friend
Scott is 15 years old. He’s talkative and impulsive.
MICHELLE Parker
- Alan Sebastian’s twin sister
- Gillian’s daughter
Michelle is 15 years old and plays the cello. She’s protective of Alan Sebastian.
GILLIAN Parker
- Alan Sebastian and Michelle’s mother
Gillian is 35 years old. She works hard and a lot.
Other People
Minor Characters of Note
- Tamika Wood – a girl who throws a party
- Steve – Scott’s mum’s boyfriend
- Amy – one of Scott’s older sisters
- Shell – a woman from Gillian’s past
- Nanny Bas – a woman from Gillian’s past
- “The Dragon” – Nanny’s daughter-in-law
Mentioned Names of No Importance Whatsoever
- Tiffany West
- Jessica (x2)
- Damian King
Part Two
Part Two begins in July 2000 and ends in July 2006.
Point of View Characters
ALAN SEBASTIAN Parker
- Scott’s best friend and maybe more than that but I guess it’s complicated
- Michelle’s twin brother
- Gillian’s son
- Mani’s uncle
Alan Sebastian is 17 years old at the beginning of Part Two.
SCOTT Maher
- Alan Sebastian’s best friend and maybe more than that but I guess it’s complicated
- Mani’s father
Scott turns 17 years old at the beginning of Part Two. He lives with Gillian, Alan Sebastian, Michelle and Mani (it’s crowded).
MICHELLE Parker
- Alan Sebastian’s twin sister
- Gillian’s daughter
- Mani’s mother
Michelle doesn’t know what she wanted her life to be like but it’s definitely not this.
GILLIAN Parker
- Alan Sebastian and Michelle’s mother
- Scott’s legal guardian
- Mani’s grandmother
MANI Parker-Maher
- Alan Sebastian’s nephew
- Scott’s son
- Michelle’s son
- Gillian’s grandson
Mani turns a year old at the beginning of Part Two.
Other People
Minor Characters of Note
- Michael’s Brother – a friend of Scott’s
- Jasmine (Jazz) – a woman who dates Scott
- Jeremy – a friend of Alan Sebastian
- Gina & Julia – Alan Sebastian’s housemate and her girlfriend
Mentioned Names of No Importance Whatsoever
- Steve & Josh – ex boyfriends of Scott’s Mum
Part Three
Part three takes place in November 2006.
Point of View Characters
ALAN SEBASTIAN Parker
- Scott’s best friend and maybe more than that but I guess it’s complicated
- Mani’s uncle
Alan Sebastian is 23 in Part Three. Alan Sebastian lives in Melbourne where he went to university.
SCOTT Maher
- Alan Sebastian’s best friend and maybe more than that but I guess it’s complicated
- Mani’s father
Scott is 23 in Part Three. Scott lives with Mani in a house that Gillian owns. Gillian lives on the same street.
MANI Parker-Maher
- Alan Sebastian’s nephew
- Scott’s son
Mani is seven in Part Three. He lives with Scott.
Other Characters
Michelle Parker
- Alan Sebastian’s sister
- Mani’s Mother
Gillian Parker
- Alan Sebastian’s Mother
- Mani’s Grandmother
Minor Characters of Note
- Jeremy – a friend of Alan Sebastian
- Anna – a friend of Scott
- Gina & Julia – Alan Sebastian’s housemate and her girlfriend