Kelsey and the Quest of the Porcelain Doll

By Rosanne Hawke

A captivating story of adversity, adventure and love from award-winning author Rosanne Hawke. Nanna, can you tell me a story just as if I were with you?’ Kelsey is in Pakistan and wants to go home. Mum and Dad are busy helping flood victims and she misses her friends. But most of all, Kelsey misses Nanna Rose. Luckily, Kelsey can talk to Nanna on Skype. To help Kelsey feel better, they create a story about a porcelain doll called Amy Jo who wants to find someone to love her. As Kelsey and Nanna imagine Amy Jo’s quest, Kelsey starts to realise Pakistan isn’t that bad after all. But how will the porcelain doll’s story end? Will Amy Jo find the person she’s destined for or be on a quest forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Queensland Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780702254475

Rosanne Hawke

Rosanne Hawke has authored over 30 books for children and YA. She has been a teacher, an aidworker in Pakistan & the UAE, and a lecturer in Creative Writing. Her books explore cultural and social issues, history, mystery, family and faith. She often writes of displacement, belonging and reconciliation and tells stories of children unheard. Many of her books have been longlisted, shortlisted or won awards in Australia and Cornwall. Her novels include Shahana: Through My Eyes and Taj and the Great Camel Trek, winner of the 2012 Adelaide Festival Award for Children's Literature, shortlisted in the Patricia Wrightson Prize and Highly Commended in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards. She is the 2015 recipient of the Nance Donkin award and is a Carclew, Asialink, Varuna, and May Gibbs Fellow. Rosanne is a Bard of Cornwall and lives in country South Australia in an ancient Cornish farmhouse with underground rooms.

Book preview

Rosanne Hawke lived in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates as an aid worker for ten years and is the author of over twenty books for young people. Her books include Killer Ute; Soraya, the Storyteller; Mustara and Taj and the Great Camel Trek, which won the 2012 Adelaide Festival Children’s Book Award. Rosanne is a Carclew, Asialink, Varuna and May Gibbs Fellow, and a Bard of Cornwall. She teaches Creative Writing at Tabor Adelaide, and writes in an old Cornish farmhouse with underground rooms near Kapunda, South Australia.

www.rosannehawke.com

Also by Rosanne Hawke

Shahana: Through My Eyes

Killer Ute

The Keeper

Sailmaker

Mountain Wolf

The Messenger Bird

Taj and the Great Camel Trek

Marrying Ameera

The Wish Giver, with L Penner and M Macintosh (illus.)

The Last Virgin in Year 10

Mustara, with R Ingpen (illus.)

The Collector

Soraya, the Storyteller

Yar Dil, with E Stanley (illus.)

Across the Creek

Borderland (Re-entry, Jihad, Cameleer)

Wolfchild

Zenna Dare

A Kiss in Every Wave

For my granddaughter Amelia Claire,

and in memory of Amy Jo Inniger.

Kelsey Trengove sat in the black and yellow taxi. Bollywood music blared from the radio. Kelsey thought it was too loud but her dad clapped along. She wound down the window and screwed up her nose.

Nothing looked familiar outside. There were so many people on the street, either walking or on bicycles, or driving in three-wheeled blue vehicles. Everyone wore the same style of clothes with baggy trousers and long shirts. Even buffaloes and a camel ambled along where the cars were supposed to go. The taxi driver tooted the horn to warn people and dogs off the road. All the other vehicles did the same. The noise was deafening.

Her mum tried to hold her hand but Kelsey folded her arms across her chest. ‘Why did Dad have to come to Pakistan to build houses? Couldn’t he keep doing that in Australia?’ She was going to be nine in October and she wanted to turn nine in Australia with a pool party at Chantelle’s. Not here. She’d miss the spring swimming carnival too and she was one of the best swimmers in her class.

Mum said, ‘I’ve told you, so many people lost their houses in the flood. This is one way we can help. Dad’s good at building houses.’

Kelsey wished he wasn’t, and then they could have stayed home. ‘Why couldn’t I stay with Nanna Rose?’ Kelsey asked. Nanna Rose lived in a granny flat behind their house. Almost every day after school Kelsey visited her and they had afternoon tea in pretty bone china cups. And they ate different coloured macarons. Nanna Rose was the best cook.

‘You’re old enough to see where I grew up,’ Dad said. ‘And it’s only for a few months.’

But that would be too long. A year ago Nanna Rose had promised Kelsey a porcelain doll for her ninth birthday. Now that wouldn’t happen because Nanna Rose was thousands of kilometres away and Kelsey was stuck in Pakistan.

That afternoon, Kelsey and her parents arrived at a village. There was water lapping the sides of the houses and everything was muddy. Some houses in the distance looked like little islands. Dad was quiet when he saw the damage the flood had done.

After a while, Dad blew out a breath and looked at Kelsey. ‘I never saw anything like this when I lived here with Nanna and Grandad. Come on, Kels,’ he said then. ‘Here’s our house.’

Kelsey looked at the mudbrick house and frowned. It didn’t even look like a house and she could see where the water had been inside. ‘It’s not our house.’ She pouted.

Dad gave her a hug. ‘You’ll find something to like soon.’

Kelsey was sure she wouldn’t. She didn’t like her room at all. It was hot. There was no air