THE SKY SO HEAVY

by Claire Zorn

[Blurb:  For Fin, it's just like any other day - racing for the school bus, bluffing his way through class, and trying to remain cool in front of the most sophisticated girl in his universe, Lucy. Only it's not like any other day because, on the other side of the world, nuclear missiles are being detonated. From an exciting new voice in Australian YA literature, Claire Zorn, comes a haunting novel, The Sky So Heavy - a mesmerising story inspired by the continued debate over Australia's treatment of asylum-seekers and how a line through a map can determine your fate.]

This was a great little YA fiction that had me thinking. Set in Australia, with the threat of nuclear testing going on in Asia,  most people go about their life without any thought of the impending disaster, but when the missiles testing goes wrong, Australia is suddenly thrown into an fight for survival. The sky does dark, snow is suddenly falling (which could be radioactive) as the temperature drops to freezing, families are separated and supplies are running out. Where is the army to help with food and reassurance?... there's none... and it's every man for themselves. As people start to get sick and die, Fin and his friends must try to head for the city to where his mother is more than likely heading up the Australian response team, but will they make it through without being killed and will she be able to provide them with the safety they need? It's go, go, go in this story and made me think how far I would go if my life and my family was in danger.

CLOUDSTREET

by Tim Winton

Well it's not often that I don't finish a book but I could only get to about page 160 and I gave up! I found it very boring and depressing and although people refer to it as a 'classic' it didn't do much for me.

Blurb: Hailed as a classic, Tim Winton's masterful family saga is both a paean to working-class Australians and an unflinching examination of the human heart's capacity for sorrow, joy, and endless gradations in between. An award-winning work, Cloudstreet exemplifies the brilliant ability of fiction to captivate and inspire. Struggling to rebuild their lives after being touched by disaster, the Pickle family, who've inherited a big house called Cloudstreet in a suburb of Perth, take in the God-fearing Lambs as tenants. The Lambs have suffered their own catastrophes, and determined to survive, they open up a grocery on the ground floor. From 1944 to 1964, the shared experiences of the two overpopulated clans -- running the gamut from drunkenness, adultery, and death to resurrection, marriage, and birth -- bond them to each other and to the bustling, haunted house in ways no one could have anticipated.

KATE MORTON'S BOOKS

I love reading Kate's books. Ever since I read her new release 'The Secret Keeper' I was hooked and needed to read the rest of her novels. She researches the historical content well and usually tells a story of family secrets which takes you on a journey through decades.

The Shifting Fog (The House at Riverton)
Summer 1924 - On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999 - Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

The Distant Hours
A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WWII. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. 

Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling

The Forgotten Garden 
 A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. 

Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.

THE WOODY CREEK SERIES

by Joy Dettman

Following on from the fantastic 'Pearl in a Cage' is...
 Book 2 'Thorn on the rose', Book 3 'Moth to a flame', Book 4 'Wind in the wires' and Book 5 'Ripples on a pond'

THORN ON THE ROSE
Blurb:  It is 1939 and Jenny Morrison, distraught and just fifteen years of age, has fled the tiny logging community of Woody Creek for a new life in the big smoke. But four months later she is back – wiser, with an expensive new wardrobe, and bearijng another dark secret...She takes refuge with Gertrude, her dependable granny and Woody Creek's indomitable midwife, and settles into a routine in the ever-expanding and chaotic household. But can she ever put the trauma of her past behind her and realise her dream of becoming a famous singer? Or is she doomed to follow in the footsteps of her tragic and mysterious mother?
                                                 



 MOTH TO THE FLAME
Blurb: The year is 1946. The war ended five months ago. Jim Hooper, Jenny Morrison's only love, was lost to that war. And if not for Jenny, he would never have gone."An eye for an eye," Vern Hooper says. An unforgiving man, Vern wants custody of Jenny's son, his only grandson, and is quietly planning his day in court.
Then Jenny's father Archie Foote swoops back into town. Archie offers Jenny a tantalising chance at fame and fortune; one way or another he is determined to play a part in her life. Is Jenny's luck about to change, or is she drawn to trouble like a moth is drawn to the flame?

 WIND IN THE WIRES
 Blurb: The wind is whispering in Woody Creek... Change is in the air It's 1958 and Woody Creek is being dragged – kicking and screaming – into the swinging sixties. Jenny's daughters, Cara and Georgie, are now young women. They have inherited their mother's hands, but that is where their similarity ends. Raised separately, they have never met. A mistake from Cara's teenage years looms over her future, but she believes emphatically in the white wedding and happily ever after myth. Georgie has seen enough of marriage and motherhood. She plans to live her life as her grandmother did, independent of a man. But life for the Morrison girls has never been easy, and once the sisters are in each other's lives, long-buried secrets are bound to be unearthed, the dramatic consequences of which no-one could have predicted...

RIPPLES ON A POND
Blurb: Woody Creek is gearing up for its centenary celebrations – but for many of its townspeople, it's just another reminder of the old days, when life was more simple, before so-called progress, technology and a growing population roared through the town, altering everything in its wake. Not for Georgie though. Long encumbered by responsibility for her half-sister Margot, she's looking towards the future and more changes. Not having managed to move on from running Charlie's grocery store yet, as the clock ticks over to 1970, she's determined that the time has come.  She's not the only one of Jenny's children who's grown up and is moving on. As a six year old, little Jimmy Morrison was stolen from Woody Creek by his grandfather, and is now further away than ever from his estranged birth mother and sisters. Having inherited an estate in the United Kingdom, he's determined to make a new life for himself. If only he could shake off his one terrible attachment to Australia... For Cara, Woody Creek has been the source of the most devastating news of her life, and a terrible mistake that cannot be undone. She's vowed never to step foot into the place again. But the old timber town has a way of getting under people's skins. And as it draws the much loved cast of Woody Creek characters back into its grip, confessions, discoveries and truths seem set to explode in the most dramatic of showdowns...

Wow, I really loved each of these books and each one left you hanging on for the next. After book 4 I just had to find out what happened and the book had only been published in March, so I download the next one to my kindle as quickly as possible. (Gotta love a kindle) Very addictive! Not quite finished yet....

PEARL IN A CAGE

By Joy Dettman

Blurb: On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives. Gertrude's daughter Amber who has recently lost a son in childbirth and her husband Norman take the child in.

I've been wanting to read on of Joy's books for a while as I keep seeing them, but they look so big and  my reading time is limited, however I decided to give it a go. I wasn't disappointed. I loved it so much that when I had finished, and realised it was the first book in a series 'The Woody Creek' series I just had to download the next book immediately to my kindle.

The writing was so good, I just felt like I was living in the town and knew all the characters so well. I really felt for Jenny having to live with such a cruel mother and sister and kept wanting her Granny, Gertrude, to tell her the truth, but no, that wasn't to be...well not yet anyway, who knows what is in store in the next few books, I believe there are 5 or 6 in the series. I can't wait!

THE BELOVED

by Annah Faulkner

I really, really loved this beautiful book. From the first page it had me and it only took a day or so to finish it... that's how much I loved it! Roberta, a young girl contracts polio and is confined to hospital for months, then forced to wear a calliper and boot. This is devastating to Roberta and her family but when she is given a set of paints she realises how much she loves art and how talented she is. She is 'special' for sure as she can see colours hovering over people she meets. Some are angry colours others are full of love and she of course paints them, but her style is very different from the 'norm' and through a set of circumstances her mother forbids her to pain any more. This is who Roberta is.... she must paint... it's what she was born to do. 

In Australia she is bullied at school, because of her gympy leg, but her life changes when her family move to New Guinea. There is so much colour there she must continue her passion.  Because I love to draw and paint I really felt the frustration Roberta felt from being banned to paint. When she discovers secrets in her mother's life her whole world is turned upside down and I wanted the story to go on and on.I won't give you any more of the story because there many highs and lows that come her way.

This story is so beautifully written. I felt like I was with little Roberta as she grew up, peering into her life, feeling her pain. It felt so real that I thought it must have been an autobiography but this was Annah Faulkner's first novel. I can't believe it!

THE TRUTH ABOUT VERITY SPARKS

 by Susan Green


This was an unusual story that was  short-listed in the Book of the Year for Younger Readers category of the 2012 CBCA Awards. Set in the late 1800's, a thirteen yr old girl named Verity Sparks discovers she is talented in finding lost objects. Verity works as a milliner in London and thinks she is just an ordinary lower class girl until she is accused of steeling some jewellery and her life takes on a very different direction. 
She is helped by the Plush family who explain she has an almost perfect memory and possesses the talent of Teleagtivism. They ask her to help them solve cases in their Confidential Inquiry Agency. Soon there are chases through the dark alleys of London and lots of adventure. Will Verity find out the truth about her parents and why she has this special talent? A great story with mystery and suspense.

THE INDUSTRY

by Rose Foster

This was a great read and something a bit different... no vampires in sight! The story starts with Kirra Hayward a 16yr old student who is smart and excels in Maths & Science. Unfortunately she doesn't have any real friends. 


She is given a task in her maths class to create a puzzle and when she goes online she discovers an unusual decrypting puzzle. She doesn't know who has put it there or what it means but when the numbers jump out at ther clearly, she decides to fill in the code and press send.


That is when her life changes forever. Shortly after completing the code she feels she is being watched and then she is kidnapped and taken from her family half way across the world. She finds out her ability to solve the puzzle has landed her in this bizarre situation where she is tortured and put in a freezing cell and made to solve other codes. She learns she is one of only three others in the world that can break these important security codes.

Kirra has no idea if she will ever see her family again and doesn't know who she can trust. The plot thickens when another prisoner, a boy named Milo, is thrown into her cell and he seems to be able to break codes like her.

This is a fantastic story, the first in a trilogy by this young debut author who grew up in Melb. and studies creative writing at RMIT. 

THREE SUMMERS

by Judith Clarke


What a lovely cover that once again made me pick this book up to read.
This story is set mostly in rural Australia and begins in 1959 but follows the life journey of Ruth and her best friend Fee and when I finished the book I felt like I had actually lived along side them.


Ruth had lost her mother in a car accident when she was a baby and she was raised by her father and her grandmother, which she had a strong connection with. The story tells the tale of the girls receiving their results from their final year of school and the direction their lives followed... Fee craving marriage and motherhood and staying in this country town and Ruth winning a scholarship to a Sydney University where her grandmother thinks will save her from being trapped in this town, with all it's quirky characters. She really wants her grand daughter to live life to the fullest and have the opportunities that she was never able to have.

THE HAPPIEST REFUGEE

by Anh Do

This was a fantastic read. Anh Do, a well known comedian, tells of his life coming to Australia from a war-torn Vietnam, on a boat, along with his family. The journey was filled with danger from drifting at sea with a broken motor, to being raided by pirates, this book is sure to thrill you and at times amaze you. 


Anh has a real commitment to his family and this story tells what is was like for him and his family to arrive as refugees with nothing, to completing school, then working hard to make a new life in Australia. 


I really loved having a glimpse into his life story, through his hardships and triumphs. The photos were wonderful - I'm glad he included so many. I would recommend this great book to anyone. It just shows what you can accomplish with a lot of hard work. I loved how his mum would always say to give back to this country because it had given them so much. This book has won many awards and rightly so.

LES DARCY

by Peter Fitzsimons

This is a wonderful biography of an Australian boxing icon named Les Darcy. I must admit I hadn't heard of him prior to reading this book, but after mentioning this book to friends, it seems that most had heard of him. He was a wonderful young man who was a natural boxer but also a descent fellow and hard worker, and loved by nearly everyone who met him. He worked hard to provide for his family. With a family of 10 children, one handicapped and a father who was usually drunk, Les tried to lessen the burden for his loved mum. He was strong and handsome with a charming smile. Deeply religious, this stemming from his rich Irish Catholic ancestory, he never missed going to Sunday Mass and was very close to his local priest.

Les earned his icon status by working his way up the rung of the boxing community fighting the biggest and meanest they could throw at him and became a lightweight and heavyweight champion. He wanted to set his family up with a nice home and enough money to keep them well and tried desperately to travel to the USA to compete with their champion boxers and win some big bucks. Unfortunately, the war had started and men were signing up to go to Galipoli and fight with the Allies. He was still underage and needed his mother to sign a conscent form but she refused. This led some members of the community to send him white feathers in the mail and call him a coward for not going with their sons to fight. 

Les just wanted a couple more fights to prove himself and earn his money then he was prepared to enlist. The government refused a passport for Les on three separate occasions which frustrated him and he eventually, with the help of a friend, stowed away on a ship going to America. They all knew of him there and soon fell in love with him and soon there were matches schedule, however time after time he was refused permission to fight due to his ex-manager in Australia who had connections high in the government.

This story was told in a wonderful way with great insight, with lots of historical documentation and at times a sense of humour with Peter Fitzsimons filling the story with lots of 'aussieisms'. Although I'm really, really, not into boxing I did find this story gripping and very sad in the end. It was interesting how quickly people turned from adoring this brilliant sportsman, to ridiculing him and calling him a traitor, and then after his death, to adoring him again. I wonder how Les' story would've changed if he was born a little later in the century, after the war.

WHISPER

WHISPER by Chrissie Keighery   (YA fiction)

 This really is a fantastic book and I glad I took the time to read it. being a teenager is hard enough but being a deaf teenager is so much harder. Demi is in a new world trapped ... trapped by her new deafness, where everything she took for granted is gone. After convincing her mum to send her to a deaf school, Demi tries to make new friends and come to terms with all the changes in her life now that she's 'profoundly deaf'.

Having been involved with deaf people and communicating through signing, I felt this book was a great insight into the life of someone who can't hear and how unknowingly we can restrict knowledge and communication from them and cause embarrassment and isolation to them. This is evident when Demi's hearing friends turn their backs to her when talking and how sometimes she only gets portions of the conversation. How would we feel if the things we take for granted are gone forever?

This book was beautifully written and well researched. At times I felt I was in Demi's world and annoyed at the 'hearies' who, sometimes through lack of knowledge, did things to make it so much harder for Demi. I learnt a lot from reading this book and feel I have a greater insight into her world. Demi struggles with relationships from her world before deafness and her new friends. I was scared with her when she was left alone at home.There is also lots of humour in this book and lots of inspiring moments.

I think this book should be used as a class novel so teenagers can be more knowledgeable about deafness and the challenges it creates. The book also touched on issues about how we rightly or wrongly perceive others.

GRAFFITI MOON

GRAFFITI MOON by Cath Crowley    (YA fiction)

I must admit it took me quite a few pages to really get into this book, but I am glad I persevered because I really got hooked and warmed to the characters and ended up really enjoying the story. Lucy and her two girlfriends have finished Year 12 and are out on the town to enjoy themselves. Lucy is fascinated/in love with a Graffiti artist called 'Shadow' and adores his paintings that are scattered around Melbourne. She is artistic herself and feels a bond with Shadow and the depth of meaning behind his graffiti and creates an imagine of what he would be like and what he looks like and all she wants to do is find him.

They meet up with 3 boys from their class at a party who say they know Shadow and his friend Poet.  When one of the boys, Ed, convinces Lucy he knows Shadow well and invites her to follow him on a tour of some of Shadow and Poets best graffiti walls she jumps at the chance. Will she ever get to meet shadow? Has sh ealready met Shadow without realising it? And who is this person known as Poet?

Each chapter of this book is written from the perspective of Ed, Lucy or Poet which I enjoyed. It dealt with misconceptions, expectations and reality. It raises the question do many of our youth fall between the cracks in the education system and drop out of school unnecessarily, because their talents aren't recognised, and they don't fit into the 'mould'.

This book won an 'HONOUR' at the CBCA (Children's Book Council of Aust) book of the year awards this year in the 'Older Reader' section.

LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS

LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS by Nick Vujicic    
(Autobiography)

Wow! What an amazing man. Born without arms or legs Nick Vujicic is an inspiration to people all over the world. He travels the world as a motivational speaker and if anyone can inspire you to do more it's Nick. His book tells of his life growing up and all the emotions and struggles he went through as a child, going to school, getting bullied, insecurities and then as a man facing day to day struggles, lonliness and even touches very honestly about dark periods in his life. He has a real zest for life and doesn't say 'no, I can't do that' but just gets going and faces his challenges head on.


An amazing Australian, now living in USA, Nick has a strong faith and believes it is his purpose to encourages everyone to find their purpose in life, overcoming any obstacles. I read this at a time I needed some uplifting and each chapter seemed to have at least one line that stood out to me and challenged me to face my fears and move on past them.

THYLA

THYLA by Kate Gordon     (LWH)

I must say this book had me hooked from the start.  Found in the bush, looking like a wild animal, slashes across her back, frightened with no memory of what has happened to her... very intriguing! The only thing she knew for certain was "her name was Tessa, she was strong, she was brave and she did not cry". I sure love a good mystery and I must admit it did get my imagination going.

Set in Tasmania this book gave me a glimpse of what it was like in early settlement during a very hard time in history. The mysterious Tessa is sent to a boarding school where she doesn't fit in but strangely becomes friends with students no that different to herself.  Flashes of memory start to appear and the plot thickens. I was waiting to see what her mysterious past was all about but was a little disapponted with the ending particularly when shapeshifters appeared (I'm not really into animorphs), but overall worth a read.