Song Of The Current Book One
Written by Sarah Tolcser
Fantasy, Adventure, Romance
384 Pages
Published July 1st 2017
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
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★★★★☆
Caroline Oresteia has always been destined for the river. Her father is a wherryman, as was her grandmother. All Caro needs is for the river god to whisper her name, and her fate is sealed. But at seventeen, Caro may be too late.
So when pirates burn ships and her father is arrested, Caro volunteers to transport a dangerous cargo in exchange for his release. Secretly, Caro hopes that by piloting her own wherry, the river god will finally speak her name.
But when the cargo becomes more than Caro expected, she finds herself caught in a web of politics and lies. With much more than her father’s life at stake, Caro must choose between the future she knows, and the one she never could have imagined.
This immersive fantasy debut set along the waterways of a magical world will entrance fans of Sabaa Tahir and Victoria Aveyard. Sarah Tolcser weaves an epic story of danger and destiny with enchanting world building and captivating characters.
The River God speaks in the language of small things, whispers throughout the everglades to protect those who navigate her waters, favoured by the river and her guidance. Seventeen year old Caroline Oresteia is a privateer on board the Cormorant, her father a humbled Wherryman, now incarcerated. His livelihood threatened by unlawful, concealed merchandise. In order to exonerate her father, Caroline must navigate the treacherous Black Dog territory, evading apprehension.
Caroline Oresteia is a fascinating and tenacious young woman, biracial and an impassioned privateer upon the hallowed Cormorant. Upon returning to Hespera's Watch, marauders have pillaged and ravaged the Wherry harbour and the Kynthessa authorities have apprehended her father. Capable and resolute, Caroline agrees to deliver the consignment on her first adventure commanding the Cormorant with Fee, a Frogman and adept privateer.
Shenanigans are afoot my friends.
Shenanigans are afoot my friends.
I enjoyed the reluctant companionship between Caroline and Tarquin, the courier for the Akhaian Consul. Tarquin is a genteel aristocrat contrast to Caroline who appears to be prudent although sincere. An important aspect of the conversation discusses consent, Caroline adamant consent should be obtained, echoed throughout the narration. A wonderful precedent for teen readers.
Atmospheric and lyrically captivating, Sarah Tolcser has created a wonderfully ambient world.
When the reeds along the banks whisper that a squall is rushing across the marshland, we listen. When the tide flows up from the sea, flooding the river with muddy brown water, we know enough to watch.
The god in the river speaks to us in the language of small things.
The decisive and enterprising women of Song Of The Current are celebrated. Captain Brixton, a gay privateer and commander challenging gender equality. Fee, Caroline's second in command, perceptive and ardent. Caroline's mother, a ruthless merchant and cousin Kenté who is a tremendous support to Caroline, moralistic and principled. Prosperous and flourishing women celebrated for their achievements.
Spectacularly lyrical, Song of The Current is a celebration of women, their strength and fortitude. Debut author Sarah Tolcser is remarkable. Avast ye swashbucklers and hornswagglers! Song Of The Current is an enchantin' and beautifully lyrical narration o' wonder.
#LoveOzYA authors Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood have released an empowering, influential collaboration Take Three Girls, a fictional insight into toxic online environments, fighting the patriarchy and girls supporting one another. Remarkable ladies of Australian young adult fiction. Thanks for joining me ladies, with thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia.
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia
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Check out my review Here
★★★★
Kate, a quiet boarder, making some risky choices to pursue the experimental music she loves.
Clem, shrugging off her old swim team persona, exploring her first sexual relationship, and trying to keep her annoying twin, Iris, at arm’s length.
Ady, grappling with a chaotic family, and wondering who her real friends are, she’s not the confident Alister she appears to be.
When St Hilda’s establishes a Year 10 Wellness Program in response to the era of cyberbullying, the three girls are thrown together and an unlikely friendship is sparked. One thing they have in common, each is targeted by PSST, a site devoted to gossip and slander that must have a source within St Hilda’s. Who can you trust when rumour is the new truth?
The Wellness initiative was a wonderful concept and an initiative that should be incorporated into the school curriculum. Can I ask what the inspiration behind the program was and how it could be expanded upon as a community outreach program for teens?
Cath Crowley
I think, and I’m not a hundred percent sure I’m remembering properly, that it came about after discussions about how a school might tackle a problem like this one. Also, we love the idea that these ‘worksheets’ could be used in a classroom situation, to encourage talk about some of the issues raised in the book. I love the idea that teens might feel empowered by the book (if not the Wellness sheets) to start feminist groups, to talk about online culture, and to feel as if they’re not alone.
Simmone Howell
For the last year I’ve been doing some writing work around young people’s mental health issues as well as running creative writing and journaling workshops. I’m interested in how YA fiction can have therapeutic benefits for young people, and this was a fun way into exploring that.
Fiona Wood
The Wellness program was also a way in which we could represent the fact of schools and parents knowing that something needs to be done, but not quite sure what that might be. In this case there is some resistance to the Wellness program, but the girls all end up benefiting from the way it makes them rethink things such as friendship and identity. We would love to see the Wellness sheets being used as a prompt for school classroom discussions. Many schools do formally engage with the idea of student wellbeing, and the more of that, the better.
The three protagonists were all wonderfully unique individuals, their narratives blended seamlessly. Did you see yourself within the adolescent characters and draw from your own experiences?
Cath Crowley
I definitely see a little of myself in Kate. I grew up in the country. I was a bit of a dreamer. (Although I didn’t play the cello, I did write.) I was certainly quiet.
Simmone Howell
Yes, I was a pretty messy, avaricious, angry teenager - I didn’t always know where I fit in. I don’t have a twin, but I do have siblings and I always wished to be sent away to boarding school (alas it never happened).
Fiona Wood
Like Ady, I had a parent with addiction problems which had huge repercussions on my self-confidence and the face I thought I needed to show in public. I also poured quite a bit of creativity into messing around with clothes.
Another aspect I found relevant to teens and adults, was the toxic nature of online communities. The Private School Secrets Tracker website was incredibly confronting and was reminiscent of the online trolling outspoken women on Twitter are subjected to consistently. Is that something you were mindful of during the writing process and did you visit online communities as research?
Cath Crowley
We wanted the references to online material to be confronting – because women (young and old) are subjected to these kinds of comments all the time. I did some research. I hadn’t realised just how ugly the online world can be. So I did dip in to write my comments.
Simmone Howell
Yes. I read comments. In a way it wasn’t hard to write that stuff, It was like thinking in worst-case mode. You don’t have to go very far to find hate-speak online. I also watched great stuff: videos and TED talks, women like Clementine Ford and Anita Sarkeesian, (like the girls in the school’s Feminist Collective.)
Fiona Wood
This sort of commentary is, unfortunately, like surround sound, online. We were also influenced by a deluge of media reporting of abuses of girls and young women at schools, universities, colleges and in the workplace.
The strong female friendships were a tremendous support beyond the Wellness classes and I really enjoyed how their friendship also encouraged one another and promoted confidence and self esteem. How do you feel these friendships influenced the girls and their fight against the toxicity of their peers?
Simmone Howell
I think because the characters were able to be honest with each other, they could then channel that ‘good fight’ energy - they had each other’s backs.
Fiona Wood
Yes, we definitely wanted to show that the three characters gained strength from each other, and, as Simmone says, the key to that is that they are able to be honest.
I appreciated that although the narration takes place within the boarding school, the families of the girls are still very much an important part of their lives. Why do you feel it's important to include parents and grandparents within young adult novels?
Simmone Howell
I personally feel that whatever the story is will dictate whether or not there is parent / grandparent presence. If they are relevant to the character, if we, the reader needs to know about them, then we can, but I don’t think it’s a prerequisite.
Fiona Wood
I like to include family details – for Ady, it’s mainly her sister, Clare – because it adds further complexity to the character. For me, the decision about whether or not to create other family characters is purely about how those characters will support the main character and the story.
The essence of Take Three Girls is about empowerment of females pushing back against the patriarchy of a male dominated society. If you could revist your teen self, what important knowledge would you like to pass on?
Cath Crowley
I’d tell my teenage self that she has something important to say. I’d tell her she has just as much right to be heard as everyone else.
Simmone Howell
I’d tell her that everything she does has a knock-on effect, that she doesn’t HAVE to do what everyone else is doing, and I’d give her a big hug and tell her she’s ok as is.
Fiona Wood
Don’t be so fearful - stick your neck out.
Meet the authors
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Thanks to Cath, Fiona, Simmone and the wonderful Pan Macmillan
Written by Zana Fraillon
Middle Grade, Australia, Realistic Fiction
234 Pages
Published June 28th 2016
Thank you to Hachette Australia
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★★★★★
Subhi is a refugee. Born in an Australian permanent detention centre after his mother fled the violence of a distant homeland, life behind the fences is all he has ever known. But as he grows, his imagination gets bigger too, until it is bursting at the limits of his world. The night sea brings him gifts, the faraway whales sing to him, and the birds tell their stories.
The most vivid story of all, however, is the one that arrives one night in the form of Jimmie, a scruffy, impatient girl who appears from the other side of the wires, and brings a notebook written by the mother she lost. Unable to read it, she relies on Subhi to unravel her own family's love songs and tragedies.
Subhi and Jimmie might both find a way to freedom, as their tales unfold. But not until each of them has been braver than ever before.
Eight year old Subhi survives behind within the wire compound of the detention centre, overcrowded bodies neglected under the parched Australian sun. Subhi is one child of thousands of men, women and children escaping their homeland and applying for asylum in Australia. Born within the compound, his family surviving the harrowing journey from Burma where his father is under political incarceration. Persecuted and malnourished, families are placed within the compound and abandoned by the Australian government, segregated from their family members while abused and tormented by confinement.
Subhi is a remarkable young man, Intelligent and compassionate. The narrative is incredibly confronting, the lack of empathy towards those who seek asylum, the impoverished conditions and atrocious deficiency of humanity. Subhi imagines a freedom for his ailing mother and sister Queeny, a resilient young woman who has become Subhi's guardian.
Nine year old Jimmie lives within the remote community, occupied by exploring since her mother passed away. While her father is a single parent living below the poverty threshold, all that remains of Jimmie's late mother is her treasured book of stories and her Bone Sparrow necklace. An insufficient education and inadequate parenting, Jimmie is illiterate and continues to grieve for her mother's stories.
Although Subhi is a fictional character, he represents the thousands of children and families denied refuge and placed within detention centres and incarcerated, his narrative instigating important conversations about human rights and the Australian refugee legislation. The conditions within the refugee compound are appalling. Inadequate basic necessities, dehumanised and often brutalised by government employed wardens. Their meagre possessions confiscated upon arrival. Mental and physical health deteriorate as families are segregated. Their voices left unheard.
Jimmie looks at me and nods. 'I know,' she says. 'I hear you.'
The Bone Sparrow is a conscientious and impassioned narrative of the abhorrent treatment and conditions asylum seekers face in Australia. Captivating and confronting.
How you can make a difference
Author Zana Fraillon is raising funds for #authorsforasylum on behalf of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre supporting the #letthemstay campaign. Bid or donate now. Follow the ASRC or Zana Fraillon for more information. Online auction ends at 11:00pm AEST on September 7th 2017.
Written by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell and Fiona Wood
Contemporary, Social Issues, #LoveOzYA
423 Pages
Publishing 29th August 2017
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia
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★★★★
Kate, a quiet boarder, making some risky choices to pursue the experimental music she loves.
Clem, shrugging off her old swim team persona, exploring her first sexual relationship, and trying to keep her annoying twin, Iris, at arm’s length.
Ady, grappling with a chaotic family, and wondering who her real friends are, she’s not the confident Alister she appears to be.
When St Hilda’s establishes a Year 10 Wellness Program in response to the era of cyberbullying, the three girls are thrown together and an unlikely friendship is sparked. One thing they have in common, each is targeted by PSST, a site devoted to gossip and slander that must have a source within St Hilda’s.
Who can you trust when rumour is the new truth?
The private boarding school of Saint Hilda's promotes excellence in academic pursuits so when a website begins to engage in targeted student abuse, the prestigious school begins a Wellness initiative to promote well being and self reflection. The Private School Secrets Tracker website engages in defamation to humiliates female students, sharing personal information and encouraging concealed users to engage in abuse. Young women defined by their bodies, sexuality and social standing.
The improbable companionship between Kate, Clementine and Adelaide is wonderful. Kate is an astute and enthusiastic music student and although wistful, Kate relies upon her scholarship to attend school. Adelaide is an extrovert who is often callous and judgemental, enduring her father's addiction and dissolution of marriage while exploring a bisexual relationship. Clementine is a former athlete rediscovering her personal identity and navigating her first sexual relationship. Her relationship with sister Iris has surpassed the boundaries of sibling rivalry and often socially isolated one another.
The Private School Secrets Tracker degrades female adolescents and the societal and psychological and ramifications are disquieting. I enjoyed the discussion of the toxicity of online communities. The website was incredibly confronting and reminiscent of the online abuse women on social media experience consistently. Take Three Girls reinforces the significance of female solidarity and empowerment, encouraged by the Wellness initiative as part of the school curriculum in response to the toxic, damaging website.
I imagine the girl friendly world. Streets at night full of girls and women, god, it would be so lovely. Walking anywhere we want, wearing anything we want, staying out late, shouting, singing, drinking. Never worrying about attracting unwanted attention from dickheads. All the taxis and Ubers driven by women, so you don't have to sit there holding your phone, ready to instant dial for help if they take a wrong turn on the way home.
Take Three Girls is a journey of discovery, identity and acceptance. I enjoyed the journal aspects throughout the storyline, each narrative examining how rumour and innuendo influences our mental wellness, confidence and self esteem. Beautifully written, significant and empowering.
Imagine slipping out for a full moon midnight walk just because you could. We'd start to swagger, we'd own the streets, own the night.
Wouldn't we just.
Written by Pip Harry
Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, #LoveOzYA
264 Pages
Published August 1st 2017
Thank you to UQP
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★★★★★
Meet Tiny and Nola. Two very different girls with two very different stories who are just trying to find a place to belong. A powerful and compelling novel about friendship, love and acceptance.
Tiny is an eighteen year old girl living on the streets in Sydney, running from her small town past. She finds short term accommodation at Hope Lane, a shelter for the homeless where she meets Nola, a high school student on volunteer placement.
Both girls share their love of words through the Hope Lane writing group. Can they share their secrets, too?
Seventeen year old Lola Piper is an intelligent young woman, attractive, wealthy and privileged. As a curricular activity required by her prestigious Sydney college, Lola has reluctantly volunteered to assist at Hope House, a shelter for the homeless community that offers activities for residents, sharing their stories through creativity. Lola is the offspring of two wonderful parents, coparenting friends. Both Lola's mother and father are gay, her father a nurturing transgender woman who became Lola's primary caregiver while postponing her celebrated career. Lola's parents are a wonderful, guiding influence in her life, inspiring equality, compassion and tenacity.
Eighteen year old Tiny has been sleeping on the streets of Sydney since escaping her home town of Dubbo, sleep deprived and depressed. As winter begins to descend upon the city, Tiny is offered a three month residency at Hope Lane and through the compassion of others, also begins to change Lola's perceptions. Tiny is a captivating character, a wonderful young woman who is a casualty of her circumstances, homeless and not afforded the same opportunities as privileged Australians. Through creative poetry, Tiny begins to confide in Lola.
Throughout the narrative, Pip Harry illustrates the callous installation of defence architecture, metal spikes used as a deterrent to erase homelessness from public exposure. While our governments allocate funding to frivolous enterprises, councils prohibit homeless communities sleeping within the city centre, denying those seeking safety in public places. In Melbourne, the Lord Mayor has amended the legislation to allow police to remove provisional forms of accommodation, further displacing the homeless members of our community.
Pip Harry is remarkable. Because Of You is the immaculate and captivating narrative of the Hope Lane community, a homeless initiative that encourages our most vulnerable community members to communicate through creativity. Inspirational and influential.
Written by Ellie Marney
Contemporary, Romance, Suspense, New Adult
508 Pages
Expected Publication August 14th 2017
Thank you to Ellie Marney
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★★★★☆
Boozer, brawler, ladies' man, nineteen year old Harris Derwent is not a good guy.
His one attempt to play the hero, helping out his old flame, Rachel Watts, has landed him in hospital. Now injured, broke, and unemployed, he’s stuck back in the country, at his father’s mercy. Harris needs to pay off his dad’s debts, and fast. But working as a runner for a drug cartel is a dangerous path, especially if Harris agrees to narc…
Eighteen year old Amita Blunt is the perfect police sergeant’s daughter, practical, trustworthy, and oh-so responsible. Getting involved in Harris’s case was never part of the plan. But working at the hospital, she’s invisible, which makes her the ideal contact for a boy feeding information back to the police...
Harris and Amie’s connection is sizzling hot, but if the cartel finds out about them, things could get downright explosive. Backed into a corner, with everything at stake, it’s time for Harris and Amie to find out if love really has no limits…
Feeling like a dickhead after telling Rachel Watts he had the hots for her, Harrison Derwent has pissed off back to Ouyen. His leg is cactus after being banged up at the quarry. Harris may be a hot spunk but he's had a pretty shit life, his old man is a shitfaced bastard who knocked him around after his mum nicked of with the ankle biter. So the dunny rat offers him a deal. He'll tell Harris where his mum pissed off to and Harris will put up with his abuse and fuckery. The old prick is sick and Harris being a bit of a softie, says why the hell not.
Big mistake son.
Amita Blunt is a top chick. The daughter of the local copper, it's been Amie and her old man since her mum died. Amie works at the Ouyen hospital mending brawlers, guys knocked about after a night on the piss and the odd ice addict. She's heard the rumours about Harris, a knockabout guy who likes to get his kit off but no one prepared her for the shit that's gonna go down. It'll be fucking epic.
Amie and Harris are a goer. She's treating his leg and he's trying hard not to pitch a tent. Harris needs cash. His old man owes a shitload in gambling debts and bar tabs and being the dickhead that he is, Harris will have to clean up after the fucker. The local weed drongos are offering cash to move up to Mildura and run ice to the junkies. Harris is tempted but he's sweet on Amie and dobs to her copper dad instead.
That Marney chick is sick mate. The eye rooting and pashing is bang on. Amie is an Indian Australian chick and it was a corker seeing a biracial sheila thrown in. Australia's a massive country and we've all mates who migrated here. Even Harris being a bit of a knob at times, Amie's nanna had the hots for him too. When you're sex on legs like that piece of man candy, can't blame a woman for wanting him to put his shoes under her bed.
Look mate, you don't need to read Marney's Every series to give these two dags a fair go but I reckon she'll be right. You'll remember Harris from Every Move when he as trying to give it a burl with Rachel Watts and deadset he's come a long way. Ellie Marney is a fair dinkum Aussie icon. Like Acca Dacca, moccos and flannies. I love this sheila.
Written by Victoria Carless
Contemporary, Magical Realism, #LoveOzYA
256 Pages
Published June 27th 2017
Thank you to Hachette Australia
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★★★☆
The weight of a secret can drag you under.
Sixteen year old Lucy Hart has been counting the days till she can get the hell out of Digger's Landing, a small Queensland fishing hamlet home to fifteen families, a posse of mongrel dogs and Parkers Corner Store. No apostrophe and nowhere near a corner.
But just like the tides, Lucy's luck is on the turn, and as graduation nears her escape plans begin to falter, her best friend, Polly, is dropping out of school to help pay the bills, and Tom has been shipped off to boarding school, away from the flotsam of this place. And then there's Lucy's nightlife, which is filled with dreams that just don't seem to belong to her at all...
When the fish stop biting, like they did when her mum was still around, Lucy realises she isn't the only one with a secret.
Digger's Landing is a barren landscape of decrepit dwellings, residents livelihoods flowing with the tides of the local creek that sustains the small coastal town. Sixteen year old Lucy Hart is grieving for her spontaneous and spirited mother, her body salvaged from the water forsaking those she leaves behind. Lucy walks among the subconscious minds of slumbering Digger's Landing residents, observing their aspirations and desires sharing a prevailing theme. Lucy's mother.
Digger's Landing is an underprivileged socioeconomic community in Far North Queensland and sustained by the local creek. Lucy and her widowed father are residents of the predominantly Australian and Indigenous Australian community, where the emphasis is placed upon labour of the land rather than education in order to support those living in impoverished conditions. Lucy aspires to leave Digger's Landing, displaced since the suicide of her mother while her father is disengaged. The relationship between Lucy and her father is constrained and Lucy feels progressively isolated.
I enjoyed the friendship between Lucy and friend Polly, a wonderful young lady who is believed to be Indigenous or Torres Strait Islander. While Lucy continues her education, Polly abandons school to financially support her family. Mutual friend Tom is an interesting character and potential love interest for Lucy. Comparatively, all three adolescents experience the burden of parental expectations of varying degrees.
The magical realism elements were captivating. Since a car accident months prior, Lucy has been able to walk among the dreamers of Digger's Landing as a bystander. It's through the subconscious minds of others where she is able to see her mother, a woman who had a profound effect on the small coastal community. The narrative also explores impoverishment, suicide, environmental sustainability and parental neglect. Often confronting whilst challenging the privilege of readers.
The rural location was breathtaking and incredibly atmospheric, although I found the narrative languished at times and was disappointed the Indigenous Australian aspect wasn't further explored. The Dream Walker is a confident and enchanting debut novel from a fresh and wonderful new voice in Australian young adult literature.
Written by Demet Divaroren
Contemporary, #LoveOzYA
256 Pages
Published June 2017
Thank you to Allen & Unwin
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★★★★★
We all love someone. We all fear something. Sometimes they live right next door or even closer.
Kane will do everything he can to save his mother and his little brother Sam from the violence of his father, even if it means becoming a monster himself. Mrs Aslan will protect the boys no matter what, even though her own family is in pieces. Ada wants a family she can count on, while she faces new questions about herself. Mr Bailey is afraid of the refugees next door, but his worst fear will take another form. And Gugulethu is just trying to make a life away from terror.
On this street, everyone comes from different places, but to find peace they will have to discover what unites them.
Kane and his family are casualties of alcoholism and domestic violence. His father a violent man who has held his family to ransom, his mother recovering from her fractured marriage. Terrified his father will return, Kane is resolute and will sacrifice his benevolence to defend his family. While Kane is resentful, brother Sam continues to regress and is plagued by nightmares of his father. The narrative commences with perspectives from brothers Kane and Sam, their father physically assaulting their mother before the police are notified and child welfare services intervene. The residents of Hope Street understand the volatile environment of domestic violence, refusing to intervene.
Mrs Aslan cares for Sam and Kane as though they were her own grandchildren, estranged from granddaughter Ada after an altercation with her mother. Ms Aslan now lives alone, migrating to Australia as a young woman from Türkiye, her devoted husband passing away shortly before her abandonment. Elderly neighbour Mrs Aslan is a compassionate woman and a thirty year resident of the suburban Hope Street. While neighbour Angie is hospitalised, Mrs Aslan cares for her children while aspiring to reconnect with her granddaughter Ada. Ada is a young woman exploring her sexual identity and pushing against her parental guidelines.
Mrs Aslan cares for Sam and Kane as though they were her own grandchildren, estranged from granddaughter Ada after an altercation with her mother. Ms Aslan now lives alone, migrating to Australia as a young woman from Türkiye, her devoted husband passing away shortly before her abandonment. Elderly neighbour Mrs Aslan is a compassionate woman and a thirty year resident of the suburban Hope Street. While neighbour Angie is hospitalised, Mrs Aslan cares for her children while aspiring to reconnect with her granddaughter Ada. Ada is a young woman exploring her sexual identity and pushing against her parental guidelines.
Gugulethu's family have very few possessions but are among the wealthiest families on Hope Street, the Bulawayo family sought refuge in Australia and are blessed to live with freedom and opportunity. Mr Bailey is a Vietnam war veteran, living with his wife and experiences debilitating post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the conflict. Perched at his window all day watching his neighbours, bigoted and judgemental.
The houses are debilitated, the gardens parched by the unforgiving Australian climate but in the suburbs of Melbourne resides the residents of Hope Street. Wonderfully diverse characters representative of our families, our neighbours and communities throughout Melbourne. Living on Hope Street explores the lives of immigrant, asylum seeking and Australian families, examining socioeconomic, faith, domestic violence, racism, prejudice and sexuality from considerable and compassionate perspectives. A remarkable and compelling debut from author Demet Divaroren.
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