Big ideas for small readers
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Young Adult
BURN
by Patrick Ness (Walker)
One of the few writers who makes speculative fiction convincing, Ness’ tale of a dragon for hire on a smallholder farm in the era of the first Soviet satellites was believable enough to read twice – slowly. A mid-flight correction sees his melee of characters – including said dragon, cross-cultural teen lovers (straight), infatuated gay people, FBI agents and a corrupt cop – tossed up in the air to land reshuffled in a slightly different order and time zone. Brilliant.
THE LEFT-HANDED BOOKSELLERS OF LONDON
by Garth Nix (A&U)
Who knew handedness could be so lethal? Art student Susan goes to London to track down the father she’s never known, meets charismatic bookseller Merlin (there’s a give away), and is transported on to one of the Old Ways that criss-cross Britain. Set in an alternative 1983, this witty grown-up version of Anna James’ Pages & Co series also gives a nod to Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike.
DEEP WATER
by Sarah Epstein (A&U)
A muddy mountain bike left at her rural railway station sets Chloe on the trail of missing younger brother Henry in this more conventional mystery. Secrets and lies in a small Aussie town are revealed in a jarring series of flashbacks, sometimes hard to follow yet always compelling.
WATCH OVER ME
by Nina Lacour (Text)
The eerie mists and hippy ambience of the Northern California coast permeate this sensitive reconstruction of a now-grown foster child’s buried childhood. Part thriller, part ghost story, the tale of Mila’s integration into the life of a school for damaged children is made more poignant by the writer’s afternote regarding her own sense of
