Stolen Lucy Christopher

The book

Told in a moving letter to her captor, sixteen-year-old Gemma relives her kidnapping from Bangkok airport while on holiday. Taken by Ty, her troubled young stalker, to the wild and desolate Australian outback she reflects on a landscape from which there is no escape. A story of survival, passion and darkness, Gemma reveals how she had to deal with the nightmare, or die trying to fight it. Sensitive, powerful and beautifully written.

The author

Lucy Christopher was born in Wales, then grew up in Australia, spending much of her childhood and teenage years camping in the bush. She has always been both entranced and terrified by outback landscapes, but it wasn't until she finished school and did a camel trek through outback South Australia that she knew she wanted to write about a similar arid landscape. She studied at Melbourne University, then got offerred a place in the prestigious MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Her novel, Stolen, was written as part of her PhD in Creative Writing, within which she is also studying the use of the Outback in Australian writing for young people.

Judges’ comments

Stolen is a chilling work which masterfully explores theblurred boundaries between good and evil; flawed and rescued personalities; and the human capacity for love which can be found even in the direst of circumstances. Written as a second person narration addressed by 16-year-old Gemma, a kidnap victim, to her kidnapper Ty, the voice in which this is written is immediate and visceral. The rhythm of the prose keeps the reader in the moment, while the absence of chapters enhances the sense that this is a harrowing adventure you are sharing with the kidnap victim. Drugged and whisked away from Bangkok airport Gemma finds herself in a closed room in a remote part of the Australian outback. Set in the Great Sandy Desert, the location is important, for this is a novel about place, and being attuned to the land as much as it’s a thriller. Stolen is a gripping novel that disturbs and allows the reader insights into the psychology of a disturbed but desperate man and a young woman’s revelations about her traumatic experience. 

 

The Winds of Heaven Judith Clarke

The book

When Fan was little she dreamed of magical countries in the far away blue hills. As she grew up she dreamed of love, and the boys came after her one by one by one.

Clementine thought her cousin Fan's house in the country had a special smell: of sun and dust and kerosene and the wild honey they ate for breakfast on their toast. But then there were the feelings: the anger that smelled like iron and the disappointment that smelled like mud.

Fan was strong and beautiful and Clementine thought she'd always be like that. But Fan was seeking something, and neither she nor Clementine knew exactly what.

With sharp poetic prose, insight and compassion, Judith Clarke tells a moving and beautiful story as she traces the lives of two young women, separated by circumstance, but linked forever by blood and friendship.

The author

Judith Clarke was born in Sydney and educated at the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University in Canberra. She has worked as a teacher and librarian, and in adult education in Victoria and New South Wales.

A major force in young adult fiction both in Australia and internationally, Judith Clarke's novels include the multi-award-winning Wolf on the Fold, as well as Friend of my Heart, Night Train, Starry Nights, One Whole and Perfect Day, and the very popular and funny ‘Al Capsella’ series. She is unsurpassed in her ability to convey complex emotional states with acute understanding and compassion.

Judges’ comments

The Winds of Heaven, which is set mainly in the late 1950s, traces the relationship between two very different cousins, showing how a life may easily be turned by circumstance and incident. Clementine is a clever student and a worrier whose parents shelter her in a safe home and in their aspirations for her. Fan is Clementine’s gorgeously alive cousin in the country, but her home life with Aunt Rene is unhappy. Both Clementine and Fan are deftly drawn. Fan’s friendship with a local Aboriginal storyteller infuses her innate love for narrative, and provides her with some Wiradjuri words which ‘sing’ of her passion for the landscape, and her dreams for the future. But her dreams are shattered when, as a teenager, Fan falls pregnant and marries: a life course which has tragic consequences. This is a powerful and harrowing tale of a life gone wrong. Clementine harbours her love for her cousin fifty years later and is still imagining being reunited with her. Clarke weaves together a richly layered account of many things including depression and regret. The atmospheres and personalities Clarke poetically defines in The Winds of Heaven are haunting, the times richly evoked, and the plot beautifully developed to an optimistic, redemptive resolution where hope emerges from tragedy.

 

Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God Bill Condon

The book

I have this annoying problem that gives me a lot of trouble: a conscience.

Neil Bridges attends a Catholic boys’ school in which teachers rule with iron fists and thick leather straps. Some crumble under the pressure but Neil toughs it out, just as his Vietnam-bound older brother has done before him. He has to be a man, after all. But at sixteen, how can he be sure of himself when he’s not sure of anything else?

He loses a friend and finds another, falls in love and unwittingly treads a path that leads to revenge and possibly murder.

The author

Bill Condon's young adult novels, Dogs (2001) and No Worries (2005) were Honour Books in the Children's Book Council Book of the Year Awards. No Worries was also shortlisted for the Ethel Turner Prize in the 2005 NSW Premier's Literary Awards. Daredevils made the long-list in the inaugural Inky Awards, Australia's first teenage choice awards. Give Me Truth is Bill's most recent young adult novel for Woolshed Press. Before devoting himself to novels, Bill had a long and successful career as a writer of short stories, plays and poetry for young people. His work encompasses many genres and he has close to one hundred titles to his credit. He lives on the south coast of New South Wales with his wife, the well known children's author Di (Dianne) Bates.

Judges’ comments

Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God is a poignant, funny and deeply insightful rite of passage novel. Set in 1967, the author makes it seem contemporary, skilfully employing a nuanced first-person narration. Neil Bridges attends a Catholic boys’ school where classmate Ray (Zom) is accused by a Brother of stealing a wallet and is expelled after a fight with his accuser. Neil knows who stole the wallet, but refuses to tell. Ray's father is so ashamed that Ray is cut off from his family – save for his older sister Sylvana. Neil falls in love with Sylvana, but, implicated in Ray’s disgrace, his loyalties and motives are deeply conflicted. The pain of first love, and the morality attached to individual life choices, is evoked with real empathy. Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God also portrays the strength of ordinary families and the love even between warring brothers. There's a poignant hint too, of more loss ahead, in Neil's brother Kevin's conscription for the Vietnam War. Condon declines to indulge in historical revisionism, while the economical prose attains a rhythm that is almost poetry. The short, chiselled chapters ensure that not a word is wasted. Condon is a writer of considerable craft who eschews the flamboyant in search of deeper truths. 

 

The Museum of Mary Child Cassandra Golds

The book

Heloise lives with her godmother in an isolated cottage. Next door is a sinister museum dedicated to the memory of Mary Child. Visitors enter it with a smile and depart with fear in their eyes. One day, Heloise finds a doll under the floorboards. Against her godmother's wishes, she keeps it. And that's when the delicate truce between Heloise and her godmother begins to unravel.

Heloise runs away. She journeys far, but one day she must return to uncover the secret at the heart of her being.

The author

Cassandra Golds was born in Sydney and grew up reading Hans Christian Andersen, C.S. Lewis and Nicholas Stuart Gray over and over again – and writing her own stories as soon as she could hold a pen. Her first book, Michael and the Secret War, was accepted for publication when she was nineteen years old, and she has been writing a monthly cartoon serial, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen, for the New South Wales School Magazine for so many years now that she has gotten quite good at it. She sings for a hobby, has owned a map of Narnia since she was ten, and would like to be an actor if she wasn't a writer – but only if she could be in a production of Hair or Godspell. Cassandra's works include Clair-de-Lune, The Mostly True Story of Matthew and Trim and The Museum of Mary Child.

Judges' comments

The Museum of Mary Child is a strangely haunting gothic fantasy. It's a dramatically told story-within-a-story about Heloise, a girl whose origins are hidden from her and whose challenge is to find the truth about her godmother, her mother and herself. Sebastian is a young man in prison and, to maintain his sanity, he begins to tell a story. The fable-like tale of Heloise begins with her life with her godmother - caretaker of the Museum of Mary Child. Heloise has been warned never ‘to waste time’ and has never seen a doll until she finds one under the floorboards. When her godmother discovers her secret, she reveals the horrible contents of the museum – a nightmare from which Heloise flees. Happily, she falls in with the Orphaned Choir from whom she learns to defy the hard-learned instinct to deny herself love. She then meets Sebastian, and discovers what love really means. Cassandra Golds' liquid prose transcends reality and transports the reader to another place and lyrical way of thinking. Told with a distinctly literary voice, echoing the fairytales of Oscar Wilde and Hans Christian Andersen, its dark undercurrents suggest that a wide audience will find this engrossing and challenging. 

 

Swerve Phillip Gwynne

The book

One of the country's finest young cellists, 16 year-old Hugh Twycross has a very bright future. A future that has been mapped out by his parents, his teachers, by everybody, it seems, except Hugh Twycross.

Hugh has a secret, though: he loves cars and he loves car racing. When his newly discovered grandfather, Poppy, asks him to go on a road trip to Uluru in his 1969 Holden HT Monaro, Hugh decides, for once in his life, to do the unexpected.

As they embark on a journey into the vast and fierce landscape of the Australian interior, Hugh discovers that Poppy has a secret that will unravel both their lives and take them in a direction they never expected.

The author

Phillip Gwynne lives in Leura, NSW with his wife and three children. His first novel Deadly Unna? was the literary hit of 1998, and has now sold over 180,000 copies. It was made into the feature film Australian Rules for which Phillip won an Australian Film Institute award. The sequel, Nukkin Ya, was published to great acclaim in 2000.  Hehas also written The Worst Team Ever, Born to Bake, and A Chook Called Harry in the ‘Aussie Bites’ series, and Jetty Rats. Phillip's adult detective thriller The Build Up, is being made into a 13-part TV series on SBS. Swerve is his latest novel.

Judges’ comments

Swerve is an exuberant road novel and comic caper about a miscreant old man and his North Shore-raised classically trained musician grandson. Hugh, a gifted cellist, is about to sit his audition to study at the conservatorium when (much to his parents’ disgust), he embarks on a road trip with his newly discovered Poppy, an aging hippy and former druggie, in his 1969 HT Holden GTS 350 V8 Monaro. The boy's driving lesson – stretched over several thousand kilometres – is also a lesson in life as the pair meet crooks, crazies, conmen and kindness on the road to Uluru. On the road, lots of things go wrong. They encounter a knife-wielding hitchhiker, Brazilian backpackers, a bush poet, and later a girl called Bella whom Hugh likes but discovers isn't as trustworthy as she might be. Gwynne has the ability to canvas tough issues with wry humour and to reveal aspects of Australia which are real and often confronting.  Gwynne’s blend of influences (young adult rites-of-passage, comic crime fiction and the Australian tall story) is seamless. Swerve is a wild ride of a book about journeying on the road of life to find out who you really are. 

 

Jarvis 24 David Metzenthen

The book

So far, Marc E. Jarvis has lost a white football boot, a school tie and a best friend.

But there's more in store for him when he completes work experience at a local car yard – where his world is truly rocked, shocked and shaken.

Then Marc meets Electra.

And nothing will ever be the same again.

A story of true friends, crazed coaches, shooting stars, and loves lost and found.

The author

David Metzenthen was born and lives in Melbourne with his wife and two children. He worked as a builder's labourer and advertising copywriter before finding success as a writer of books for children and young adults. He has lived and travelled overseas, but regards Australia and its citizens as a major source of inspiration for his work.

David is one of Australia's top writers for young people. He has received many awards for excellence, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award and Victorian, Queensland and New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards. David’s works include The Boys of Blood and Bone, Black Water, Stony Heart Country and Jarvis 24.

Judges’ comments

Jarvis 24 is afunny and affecting novel which celebrates the essential goodness of teenagers, and their ability to act with insight and compassion. Marc Jarvis is an easy going 15-year-old living in a leafy Melbourne suburb. Outwardly laid back, underneath he is full of questions and doubts. Marc worries about losing things: school bags, football boots – and people. For he is also haunted by the death of a girl, Amelia Anderson. He wonders about the big questions – what is the meaning of his life, and where will it take him?  But Marc is so easy going that with work experience looming, he figures a used-car yard is as good a place as any. Here he meets the people who will open his eyes to what his life could be. He meets Electra, a young, seriously gifted runner who has moved to Melbourne on a scholarship, with her talents carrying the weight of expectation. Marc falls hilariously and hopelessly in love with Electra, and his life will never be the same. While Jarvis 24 might appear to be a tale of boys and sport, this witty, tender novel constantly wrong-foots the reader, bringing surprising elements to a tidy suburban world. Jarvis 24 explores the quest ‘to be your true self’ with sharp, funny dialogue and poignant character dynamics, a racy plot and genuine humour. Metzenthen has shown again what a marvellous writer he is.

 

Beatle Meets Destiny Gabrielle Williams

The book

Imagine your name is John Lennon, only everyone calls you Beatle.

And then you meet your dream girl and her name is Destiny McCartney.

But what if you're already with the perfect girl?

A novel about change, chance and everybody doing the wrong thing.

The author

Gabrielle Williams has a background as an advertising copywriter. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and two teenage children. Beatle Meets Destiny is her first novel for young adults.

Judges’ comments

Beatle Meets Destiny is a witty, suburban, romantic comedy. Beatle (aka John Lennon) is both a twin and a teenage stroke survivor, and Gabrielle Williams ‘hooks’ the reader of Beatle’s story with her snappy dialogue and tale of unlikely coincidences. Beatle already has a girlfriend named Cilla, but when he falls for Destiny McCartney things get complicated. In that sense, this book has something of the French farce about it, as twin brother and sister (Beatle and Winsome), born 45 days apart and in different years, meet their romantic ‘others’ in a series of encounters and tangled chance connections. And when he finds out that his twin Winsome is seeing her teacher Frank who just happens to be one of Destiny’s brothers, things start going really awry. Beatle’s mother believes in the stars and reads people’s horoscopes. Destiny is writing a star column for her sister Grace’s newspaper. They’re all trying to get through Year 12 unscathed. Beatle Meets Destiny references numerous well-known Melbourne locations, and this localism is part of the novel’s charm. It is a polished entertainment; a beautifully nuanced tale with gorgeous characters; and a delicious confection of chance, superstition, and misunderstandings.