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| BiP staff review by Lucinda Recommended for 15+ |
We Were Liars
by Emily Lockhart
July/Aug 2014 | Allen & Unwin | $19.95pb
In order to explain how engaging and suspenseful We Were Liars is, I have to remain fairly vague in my description, not because there's little to say about the plot or Lockhart's clever writing, but because there is a twist so unexpected that I want it to take your breath away as it did mine. Born into a life of wealth and privilege, the beautiful children of the Sinclair family spend idyllic summers on their grandfather's private island, just off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in the United States. Cadence, the eldest Sinclair grandchild, starts her 15th summer holiday memorably enough: having successfully navigated her mother and father's recent divorce, she manages to fall head-over-heels in love. The summer that unfolds is clouded in mystery, though. Why can't Cadence remember how she came to be found, almost dead, in the cold ocean? Why does she have to spend her 16th summer away from her beloved family island, away from her cousins? Why do the emails, full of woes and wonderings, that she sends them - the Liars, as they call themselves - go unanswered? Exquisite writing, beautifully imagined characters and insightful comments on 'having it all', We Were Liars has a thrilling ending that will send you right back to the opening pages, wondering how on earth you missed the clues.
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| BiP staff review by Lucinda Recommended for 12+ |
Loyal Creatures
by Morris Gleitzman
June 2014 | Viking | $19.99pb
With the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI this year, we expect a slew of books on the subject and this lovely, spare novel by the award-winning Morris Gleitzman is one of the best. Inspired by Michael Morpurgo's international bestseller War Horse, and based on historical record, Loyal Creatures is the deeply moving story of war horse Daisy and her 15-year-old owner Will, sent from the Australian outback to the gruelling Middle Eastern campaign of the WWI. Their skill in finding water is vital to their regiment in the desert, but their devotion to each other is what keeps them alive in an overwhelmingly hostile environment. Is their unwavering loyalty enough to determine their destiny?
