by Boomert - After by Sue Lawson 16 Jan 2010

This well-crafted tale is full of ingredients that are often found in young adult fiction. There is the conflict between generations, between town and country, the tortured protagonist running away from real life, long-held secrets and the collision between the past and the present. The Australian backdrop provides a perfect setting simply because the void between town and country (or more precisely city and country) is so vast, providing quite explicit signposts for the reader and thus suiting the creative needs of the author down to a tee. It’s hard for the reader not to feel empathy toward the protagonist Callum. From the first page, we find a sad and tortured boy, trying to come to terms with an awful event. But thrown into a new environment, where everyone knows everything about everyone, Callum’s strength of character shines through. Lawson uses the stereotypical schoolyard characterisation well, spending little time on the auxiliary personalities and deciding to focus on a select few. This results in a tightly compacted tale that moves quickly. While masculine in tone, this novel will appeal to all readers in upper primary, lower secondary school that like a good yarn.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (March 2009, Vol 88, No 6.) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker.