ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Rosa is in juvenile detention, with a list of charges against her. As she serves out her sentence, she tries to make sense of what happened by writing down the events that led to her incarceration. At the centre of it all, is her best friend Asheeka, and Asheeka's loser boyfriend's car, which the two of them steal without planning to do so. Things are complicated, including the girls' friendship, and as they go on a roadtrip through New South Wales, what happens has a profound effect on their lives - and on the way they see themselves. With an interesting narrative structure, switching back and forth in time so that important details are revealed incrementally, this is a powerful novel of young almost-women navigating the expectations of their western suburb upbringing, the strictures of their friendship and looking for something different that lets them take charge of their own lives. Don't be surprised when it appears on award lists! Lindy
A complicated friendship.
Felicity Castagna's first novel for Young Adults, The Incredible Here and Now, received the Prime Minister's Award for Literature, was named the IBBY Honour Book for Australia and was a finalist for the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. Her latest book, No More Boats, was a finalist in the Miles Franklin Award and published internationally. Felicity has written for the stage and radio and her essays frequently appear in magazines and journals. She also loves creating cross-artform and collaborative work with other artists and has helped to make a lot of wild big things for many major festivals, art galleries and outdoor spaces. Outside of writing she teaches writing, talks about writing and helps to run a lot of storytelling, mentorship and art projects.
ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- Rosa is in juvenile detention, with a list of charges against her. As she serves out her sentence, she tries to make sense of what happened by writing down the events that led to her incarceration. At the centre of it all, is her best friend Asheeka, and Asheeka's loser boyfriend's car, which the two of them steal without planning to do so. Things are complicated, including the girls' friendship, and as they go on a roadtrip through New South Wales, what happens has a profound effect on their lives - and on the way they see themselves. With an interesting narrative structure, switching back and forth in time so that important details are revealed incrementally, this is a powerful novel of young almost-women navigating the expectations of their western suburb upbringing, the strictures of their friendship and looking for something different that lets them take charge of their own lives. Don't be surprised when it appears on award lists! Lindy