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| BiP staff review by Leonie |
Volcano Street
David Rain
Jan 2015 | Allen & Unwin | $27.99pb
Volcano Street is set in a small country town in South Australia called Crater Lakes, during the 1960’s. Two sisters, Marlo and Skip Wells, are sent to live with their aunt and uncle when their single mother is committed after she takes an overdose. Leaving behind their life in Adelaide was always going to be difficult, but they could not have foreseen just how different their lives would be. Auntie Noreen is loud, overbearing and a voracious eater, while Uncle Doug is thin and quiet. The first shock for Marlo is that she is sent to work in the family hardware store instead of finishing her last four months of school. Skip is off to the local high school to finish Year 7. Her first day is a disaster from the start. She is caught fighting with a boy at the bus stop and arrives at school covered in dirt. To her horror she discovers that the boy is in her class and that he is her next-door neighbour. Honza’s friends in the class are a small group of bullies who find Skip at lunchtime and rough her up. She finds herself in all sorts of trouble as each day passes. Skip is a wonderful character, feisty and smart. She fights first and asks questions later. Eventually she and Honza become friends and her life becomes easier. Crater Lakes is a normal country town on the surface, with an undercurrent of secrets, bigotry and racism. Marlo and Skip soon become involved in town life and discover some things they would rather not have known. Volcano Street reaches a very dramatic climax. I really enjoyed it. The book has everything that makes for a good read: drama, sadness, laughter and memorable characters.
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| BiP staff review by Christine |
Oddfellows
Nicholas Shakespeare
Jan 2015 | Random House | $14.99pb
Who amongst us has heard of the Battle of Broken Hill? Shamefully, I had not and I read Nicholas Shakespeare’s evocation of this extraordinary event in amazement. An enemy attack and a race riot on Australian soil during World War I? It was in 1915, on the 1st January, the annual picnic day in Broken Hill, with a thousand citizens dressed for fun, when the enemy attack took place. Four citizens were killed and seven were wounded. It sounds horribly familiar........ Excellent.
