Tomorrow, When the War Began

By John Marsden

When Ellie and six of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find things hideously wrong -- their families gone, houses empty and abandoned, pets and stock dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in the town has been taken prisoner. As the horrible reality of the situation becomes evident they have to make a life-and-death decision: to run back into the bush and hide, to give themselves up to be with their families, or to stay and try to fight. This reveting, tautly-drawn novel seems at times to be only a step away from today's headlines.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 27, 1995
• ISBN: 9780547511979

John Marsden

John Marsden’s highly praised series concludes in this thrilling installment that will bring readers to the edge of their seats and keep them there until the last page is turned. John Marsden is one of Australia’s best-known writers for young adults. His work has received critical acclaim and has earned a cultlike following worldwide. The popular Tomorrow series has been translated into seven languages and has sold over one million copies in Australia alone.

Book preview

Chapter One

It's only half an hour since someone—Robyn I think—said we should write everything down, and it's only twenty-nine minutes since I got chosen, and for those twenty-nine minutes I've had everyone crowded around me gazing at the blank page and yelling ideas and advice. Rack off guys! I'll never get this done. I haven't got a clue where to start and I can't concentrate with all this noise.

OK, that's better. I've told them to give me some peace, and Homer backed me up, so at last they've gone and I can think straight.

I don't know if I'll be able to do this. I might as well say so now. I know why they chose me, because I'm meant to be the best writer, but there's a bit more to it than just being able to write. There's a few little things can get in the way. Little things like feelings, emotions.

Well, we'll come to that later. Maybe. We'll have to wait and see.

I'm down at the creek now, sitting on a fallen tree. Nice tree. Not an old rotten one that's been eaten by witchetty grubs but a young one with a smooth reddish trunk and the leaves still showing some green. It's hard to tell why it fell—it looks so healthy—but maybe it grew too close to the creek. It's good here. This pool's only about ten metres by three but it's surprisingly deep—up to your waist in the middle. There's constant little concentric ripples from insects touching it as they skim across the surface. I wonder where they sleep, and when. I wonder if they close their eyes when they sleep. I wonder what their names are. Busy, anonymous, sleepless insects.

To be honest I'm only writing about the pool to avoid doing what I'm meant to be doing. That's like Chris, finding ways to avoid doing things he doesn't want to do. See: I'm not holding back. I warned them I wouldn't.

I hope Chris doesn't mind my being chosen to do this instead of him, because he is a really good writer. He did look a bit hurt, a bit jealous even. But he hasn't been in this from the start, so it wouldn't have worked.

Well, I'd better stop biting my tongue and start biting the bullet. There's only one way to do this and that's to tell it in order, chronological order. I know writing it down is important to us. That's why we all got so excited when Robyn suggested it. It's terribly, terribly important. Recording what we've done, in words, on paper, it's got to be our way of telling ourselves that we mean something, that we matter. That the things we've done have made a difference. I don't know how big a difference, but a difference. Writing it down means we might be remembered. And by God that matters to us. None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing or appreciating the risks we've run.

That makes me think that I should be writing this like a history book, in very serious language, all formal. But I can't do that. Everyone's got their own way and this is mine. If they don't like my way they'll have to find someone else.

OK, better do it then.

It all began when ... They're funny, those words. Everyone uses them, without thinking what they mean. When does anything begin? With everyone, it begins when you're born. Or before that, when your parents got married. Or before that, when your parents were born. Or when your ancestors colonised the place. Or when humans came squishing out of the mud and slime, dropped off their flippers and fins, and started to walk. But all the same, all that aside, for what's happened to us there was quite a definite beginning.

So: it all began when Corrie and I said we wanted to go bush, go feral for a few days over the Christmas holidays. It was just one of those stupid things: 'Oh wouldn't it be great if...' We'd camped out quite often, been doing it since we were kids, taking the motorbikes all loaded with gear and going down to the river, sleeping under the stars, or slinging a bit of canvas between two trees on cold nights. So we were used to that. Sometimes another friend would come along, Robyn or Fi usually. Never boys. At that age you think boys have as much personality as coat hangers and, you don't notice their looks.

Then you grow up.

Well there we were, only weeks ago, though I can hardly believe it, lying in front of the television watching some junk and talking about the holidays. Corrie said, 'We haven't been down to the river for ages. Let's do that.'

'OK. Hey, let's ask Dad if we can have the Landrover.'

'OK. Hey, let's see if Kevin and Homer want to come.'

'God yeah, boys! But we'd never be allowed.'

'I reckon we might. It's worth a try.'

'OK. Hey, if we get the Landrover, let's go further. Wouldn't it be great if we could go right up to Tailor's and into Hell.'

'Yeah OK, let's ask.'

Tailor's, Tailor's Stitch, is a long line, an arete, that goes dead straight from Mt Martin to Wombegonoo. It's rocky, and very narrow and steep in places, but you can walk along it, and there's a bit of cover. The views are fantastic. You can drive almost up on to it at one point, near Mt Martin, on an old logging track that's hard to find now, it's so overgrown. Hell is what's on the other side of Tailor's, a cauldron of boulders and trees and blackberries and feral dogs and wombats and undergrowth. It's a wild place, and I didn't know anyone who'd been there, though I'd stood on the edge and looked down at it quite often. For one thing I couldn't see how you'd get in there. The cliffs all around it are spectacular, hundreds of metres high in places. There's a series of small cliffs called Satan's Steps that drop into it, but believe me, if these are steps, the Great Wall of China is our back fence. If there was any access the cliffs had to be the way, and I'd always wanted to give it a go. The locals all told stories about the Hermit from Hell, an ex-murderer who was supposed to have lived up there for years. He was meant to have killed his own wife and child. I wanted to believe in his existence but I found it a bit difficult. My brain kept asking myself awkward questions like: 'How come he didn't get hung, like they did to murderers in those days?' Still, it was a good story and I hoped it was true; not the murders part but the hermit part at least.

Anyway, the whole thing, the trip, grew from there. We made this casual decision to do it, and we immediately let ourselves in for a lot of hard work. The first job was to persuade our mums and dads to let us go. It's not that they don't trust us, but as Dad said, 'It's a pretty big ask'. They spent a lot of time not saying no, but trying to talk us into other things instead. That's the way most parents operate I think. They don't like to start a fight so they suggest alternatives that they think they can say yes to and they hope you might say yes to. 'Why don't you go down the river again?' 'Why don't you ask Robyn and Meriam instead of the boys?' 'Why don't you just take bikes? Or even horses? Make it a real old-fashioned campout. That'd be fun.'

Mum's idea of fun was making jam for the Preserves section of the Wirrawee Show, so she was hardly an authority on the subject. I feel a bit odd, writing things like that, considering what we've all been through, but I'm going to be honest, not mushy.

Finally we came to an agreement, and it wasn't too bad, considering. We could take the Landrover but I was the only one allowed to drive it, even though Kevin had his P's and I didn't. But Dad knows I'm a good driver. We could go to the top of Tailor's Stitch. We could invite the boys but we had to have more people: at least six and up to eight. That was because Mum and Dad thought there was less chance of an orgy if there were more people. Not that they'd admit that was the reason—they said it was to do with safety—but I know them too well.

And yes, I've written that 'o' in 'know' carefully—I wouldn't want it to be confused with an 'e'.

We had to promise not to take grog and smokes, and we had to promise that the boys wouldn't. It made me wonder about the way adults turn growing up into such a complicated process. They expect you to be always on the lookout for a chance to do something wild. Sometimes they even put ideas in your head. I don't think we would have bothered to take any grog or smokes anyway. Too expensive, for one thing—we were all pretty broke after Christmas. But the funny thing is that when our parents thought we were doing something wild we never were, and when they thought we were being innocent we were usually up to something. They never gave me a hard time about the school play rehearsals for instance, but I spent all my time there with Steve, undoing each other's buttons and buckles, then frantically doing them up again when Mr Kassar started bellowing, 'Steve! Ellie! Are they at it again? Someone get me a crowbar!'

Very humorous guy, Mr Kassar.

We ended up with a list of eight, counting us. We didn't ask Elliot, because he's so lazy, or Meriam, because she was doing work experience with Fi's parents. But five minutes after we made the list, one of the boys on it, Chris Lang, turned up at my place with his dad. So we immediately put the question to them. Mr Lang's a big guy who always wears a tie, no matter where he is or what he's doing. He seems kind of heavy and serious to me. Chris says his father was born on the corner of Straight and Narrow, and that sums it up. When his dad's around, Chris stays pretty quiet. But we asked them as they sat at our kitchen table, pigging out on Mum's date scones, and we got knocked back in one sentence. It turned out that A/hand Mrs Lang were going overseas, and even though they had a worker, Chris had to stay home and keep an eye on the place. So that was a bad start to our plans.

Next day though, I took a bike and rode across the paddocks to Homer's. Normally I'd go by road, but Mum'd been getting a bit twitchy about the new cop in Wirrawee, who'd been booking people left, right and centre. His first week in town he booked the magistrate's wife for not wearing a seatbelt. Everyone was being careful till they'd broken this guy in.

I found Homer down at the creek testing a valve that he'd just cleaned out. As I arrived he was holding it high, watching optimistically to see if it was leaking. 'Look at that,' he said as I got off the Yamaha. 'Tight as a drum.'

'What was the problem?'

'I don't know. All I know is that three minutes ago it was losing water and now it isn't. That's good enough for me.' I picked up the pipe and held it for him as he started screwing the valve back on. 'I hate pumps,' he said. 'When Poppa pops off I'm going to put dams in every paddock.'

'Good. You can hire my earth-moving business to put them in.'

'Oh, is that your latest?' He squeezed the muscles on my right upper arm. 'You'll be able to dig dams by hand the way you're going.' I gave a sudden shove, to try to push him into the creek, but he was too strong. I watched him pump the pipe up and down, to force water into it, then helped him carry buckets up to the pump to finish the priming. On the way I told him our plans.

'Oh yeah, I'll have a go at that,' he said. 'I'd rather we went to a tropical resort and drank cocktails with umbrellas in them, but this'll do in the meantime.'

We went back to his place for lunch, and he asked his parents for permission to come on the camp. 'Ellie and I are going bush for a few days,' he announced. That was Homer's way of asking permission. His mother didn't react at all; his father raised an eyebrow from above his cup of coffee; but his brother started firing the questions. When I gave the dates, his brother, George, said: 'What about the Show?'

'We can't go any earlier,' I said. 'The Mackenzies are shearing.'

'Yeah, but who's going to groom the bulls for the Show?'

'You're a class act with a hair dryer,' Homer said. 'I've seen you in front of the mirror Saturday nights. Just don't go woggy with the bulls and put oil through their coats.' He said to me, 'Poppa's got a forty-four-gallon drum of oil in the shed, especially for George on Saturday nights'.

As George was not known for his sense of humour, I kept my eyes down and had another mouthful of tabbouli.

So Homer was organised, and Corrie rang that night to say Kevin was coming too. 'He wasn't all that keen,' she said. 'I think he'd rather go to the Show. But he's doing it for me.'

'Er, yuk, vomit, spew,' I said. 'Tell him to go to the Show if that's what he wants. There's plenty of guys who'd kill to come with us.'

'Yeah, but they're all under twelve,' Corrie sighed. 'Kevin's little brothers are desperate to come. But they're too young, even for you.'

'And too old for you,' I replied rudely.

I rang Fiona after the call from Corrie, and told her our plans. 'Do you want to come?' I asked.

'Oh!' She sounded amazed, as if I'd told her all about the trip just to entertain her. 'Oh gosh. Do you want me to?'

I didn't even bother to answer that one.

'Oh gosh.' Fi was the only person I knew under sixty who said 'gosh'. 'Who else is coming?'

'Corrie and me. Homer and Kevin. And we thought we'd ask Robyn and Lee.'

'Well, I'd like to. Wait a sec, and I'll go and ask.'

It was a long wait. At last she came back with a series of questions. She relayed my answers to her mother or father, or both, in the background. After about ten minutes of this there was another long conversation; then Fi picked up the phone again.

'They're being difficult,' she sighed. 'I'm sure it'll be OK but my mum wants to ring your mum to make sure. Sorry.'

'That's cool. I'll put you down with a question mark and I'll talk to you at the weekend, OK?'

I hung up. It was getting hard to use the phone, because the TV was yelling at me. Mum had it turned up too loud, so she could hear the News in the kitchen. An angry face filled the screen. I stopped and watched for a moment. 'We've got a wimp for a Foreign Minister,' the face was shouting. 'He's weak, he's gutless, he's the new Neville Chamberlain. He doesn't understand the people he's dealing with. They respect strength, not weakness!'

'Do you think defence is high on the Government's agenda?' the interviewer asked.

'High? High? You must be joking! Do you know what they've cut from the defence budget?'

Thank goodness I'm getting away from this for a week, I thought.

I went into Dad's office and rang Lee. It took a while to explain to his mother that I wanted her son. Her English wasn't too crash hot. Lee was funny when he came to the phone, almost suspicious. He seemed to react slowly to everything I said, as though he was weighing it up. 'I'm meant to be playing at the Commemoration Day concert,' he said, when I told him the dates. There was a silence, which I finally broke.

'Well do you want to come?'

He laughed then. 'It sounds more fun than the concert.'

Corrie had been puzzled when I'd said I wanted to ask Lee. We didn't really hang round with him at school. He seemed a serious guy, very into his music, but I just thought he was interesting. I suddenly realised that we didn't have that much time left at school, and I didn't want to leave without getting to know people like Lee. There were people in our year who still didn't know the names of everyone else in the form! And we were such a small school. I had this intense curiosity about some kids, and the more different they were to the people I normally hung around with, the more curious I was.

'Well, what do you think?' I asked. There was another long pause. Silence makes me uncomfortable, so I kept talking. 'Do you want to ask your mum and dad?'

'No, no. I'll handle them. Yeah, I'll come.'

'You don't sound all that keen.'

'Hey, I'm keen! I was just thinking about the problems. But it's cool, I'll be there. What'll I bring?'

My last call was to Robyn.

'Oh Ellie,' she wailed. 'It'd be great! But I'd never be allowed.'

'Come on Robyn, you're tough. Put the pressure on them.'

She sighed. 'Oh Ellie, you don't know what my parents are like.'

'Well ask them, anyway. I'll wait on.'

'OK.'

After a few minutes I heard the bumping noises of the phone being picked up again, so I asked, 'Well? Did you con them into it?'

Unfortunately it was Mr Mathers who answered.

'No Ellie, she hasn't conned us into it.'

'Oh Mr Mathers!' I was embarrassed, but laughing too, cos I knew I could twist Mr Mathers round my pinkie.

'Now what's this all about, Ellie?'

'Well, we thought it was time we showed independence and initiative and all those other good things. We want to do a bushwalk along Tailor's Stitch for a few days. Get away from the sex and vice of Wirrawee into the clean wholesome air of the mountains.'

'Hmm. And no adults?'

'Oh Mr Mathers, you're invited, as long as you're under thirty, OK?'

'That's discrimination Ellie.'

We kidded around for five minutes till he started getting serious. 'You see Ellie, we just think you kids are a bit young to be careering around the bush on your own.'

'Mr Mathers, what were you doing when you were our age?'

He laughed. 'All right, one to you. I was jackarooing at Callamatta Downs. That was before I got smart and put on a collar and tie.' Mr Mathers was an insurance agent.

'So, what we're doing's small time compared to jackarooing at Callamatta Downs!'

'Hmm.'

'After all, what's the worst thing that could happen? Hunters in four-wheel drives? They'd have to come through our place, and Dad'd stop them. Bushfires? There's so much rock up there we'd be safer than we would at home. Snakebite? We all know how to treat snakebite. We can't get lost, cos Tailor's Stitch is like a highway. I've been going up into that country since I could walk.'

'Hmm.'

'How about we take out insurance with you Mr Mathers? Would you say yes then? Is it a deal?'

Robyn rang back the next night to say it was a deal, even without the insurance. She was pleased and excited. She'd had a long conversation with her parents; the best one ever, she said. This was the biggest thing they'd ever trusted her on, so she was keen for it to work out. 'Oh Ellie, I hope there's no disasters,' she kept saying.

The funny thing about it was that if parents ever had a daughter they could trust it was the Mathers and Robyn, but they didn't seem to have worked it out yet. The biggest problem she was ever likely to give them was being late to church. And that'd probably be because she was helping a boy scout across the road.

Things kept going well. Mum and I were in town shopping, Saturday morning, and we ran into Fi and her mum. The two mums had a long serious conversation while Fi and I looked in Tozers' window and tried to eavesdrop. Mum was doing a lot of reassuring. 'Very sensible,' I heard her say. 'They're all very sensible.' Luckily she didn't mention Homer's latest trick: he'd just been caught pouring a line of solvent across the road and lighting it from his hiding place when a car got close. He'd done it half a dozen times before he got caught. I couldn't imagine the shock it must have given the drivers of the cars.

Anyway, whatever Mum said to Fi's mum worked, and I was able to cross off the question mark next to Fi's name. Our list of eight was down to seven, but they were all definite and we were happy with them. Well, we were happy with ourselves, and the other five were good. I'll try to describe them the way they were then—or the way I thought they were, because of course they've changed, and my knowledge of them has changed.

For instance, I always thought of Robyn as fairly quiet and serious. She got effort certificates at school every year, and she was heavily into church stuff, but I knew there was more to her than that. She liked to win. You could see it at sport. We were in the same netball team and honestly, I was embarrassed by some of the things she did. Talk about determined. The moment the game started she was like a helicopter on heat, swooping and darting around everywhere, bumping people aside if she had to. If you got weak umpires Robyn could do as much damage in one game as an aerial gunship. Then the game would end and Robyn would be quietly shaking everyone's hands, saying 'Well played', back to her normal self. Quite strange. She's small, Robyn, but strong, nuggety, and beautifully balanced. She skims lightly across the ground, where the rest of us trudge across it like it's made of mud.

I should exempt Fi from that though, because she's light and graceful too. Fi was always a bit of a hero to me, someone I looked up to as the perfect person. When she did something wrong I'd say, 'Fi! Don't do that! You're my role model!' I love her beautiful delicate skin. She has what my mother calls 'fine features'. She looked like she'd never done any hard work in her life, never been in the sun, never got her hands dirty, and that was all true, because unlike us rurals she lived in town and spent more time playing piano than drenching sheep or marking lambs. Her parents are both solicitors.

Kevin, now he was more your typical rural. He's older than the rest of us but he was Corrie's man, so he had to come or she would have lost interest straightaway.

The first thing you noticed about Kevin was his wide wide mouth. The second thing you noticed was the size of his hands. They were enormous, like trowels. He was known for having a big ego and he liked to take the credit for everything; he annoyed me quite often for that, but I still thought he was the best thing that ever happened in Corrie's life because before she started going round with him she was too quiet and unnoticed. They used to talk a lot at school, and then she'd tell me what a sensitive caring guy he was. Although I couldn't always see that myself, I could see the way she started getting so much more confident from going with him, and I liked that.

I always pictured Kevin in twenty years, when he'd be President

Reviews for Tomorrow, When the War Began

[kslade-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story of teenage campers who find their Australian town has been invaded while they were gone and how they begin rebel operations (think of the movie "Red Dawn" a little bit). Very nicely done. Good read. Ellie is the main character who is telling about it, and she shares her experiences in a sort of diary way.

[floratina · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

READ IN DUTCH

There is an edition which includes the first four books of the Tomorrow Series. I first saw the book in 2006 and after that I've been willing to read the book. Unfortunately, I never bought the book, because I thought it was a bit too expensive for a series I completely didn't know yet.

A few weeks ago I went to my library and there it was (I had never seen it there before). Needless to say, I took it home and read it (during my final exams, which was not the best idea I ever had).

The story is about a bunch of teenagers, who happen to be camping while a war breaks out in Australia. Therefore they aren't put together in some sort of camp, but are still free. They become guerrillas in order to free their country...

I read it and I loved it. I liked the way it was written, liked the story. I couldn't put the book aside. For me, it is a 5 star rating, and I immediately started to read the second book of this series.

[edwinkort · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Een groep van 7 vrienden ontdekken dat hun land door een niet nader genoemd is overvallen. Hun familie en vrienden zitten allemaal gevangen, en aan hun is het nu om te overleven en later guerrilla activiteiten te ontwikkelen.

Dit boek is onder dezelfde titel ook verfilmd.

[zoewashburne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As soon as I finished this book I, without hesitation, bought the other six. I new I'd love them, and I was not wrong.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A group of teenagers go off on camping trip in an out-of-reach spot and return after a few days to discover that their country has been invaded.This one started out edge-of-your-seat-y, but by the middle it was bogged down into the characters spending way too much time discussing what they should do instead of just doing it. Slightly disappointing, really.

[lydia1879 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

So I read this book in high school. It was assigned reading in year nine, and I honestly just didn't like it.

The premise is cool enough, but I didn't enjoy the characters. They were imitations of stereotypical teenagers. Teenagers who... I didn't really know growing up at all. There's an athletic guy, a wealthy, blonde, slim girl and a super-focused, smart, musical Asian kid, and Ellie, the protagonist, I believe.

I just really didn't enjoy it. Feel free to ignore my review, though, I had to read it for school and just didn't enjoy it from start to finish. I read a book by Marsden the previous year, which I will review, and didn't enjoy that one, either. So I really don't think Marsden's writing is for me.

My brother read these around my age and absolutely loved them. It's rare for him to read books - he has ADHD and has trouble focusing on a book unless it's super interesting, so he loved the book and went on to read the whole series.

If this is your style of book, go ahead and read it. He's a prolific Australian author and there are more in the series and then another spin off series called The Ellie Chronicles that might be for you, but this book just was not for me.

[weisser4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting take on the dystopian novel. Your neighbor, whom you've had okay relations, decides your country's resources need to be shared for their ever growing nation. Teens getting ready to become adults have one last summer together and head off for s mini outback vacation. When they arrive home, no one is there. All the townies have been corralled like livestock in town, brutally killed if not in compliance. The teens must grow up quickly to take down the bad guys. Red Dawn ala the Aussies.

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book in the Tomorrow series by Marsden. There are seven books in that series and all have been released. This was a well done and engaging book about survival and war.I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was really well done. I would definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.The book is about a group of teens who go out to hike the bush in Australia during school break. When they come back they find that their small Australian town has been taken over by a hostile enemy force. The teens struggle to figure out what has happened without getting captured themselves and also work to survive in this new hostile world.I really enjoyed the characters and the mystery. This story pretty much just introduces the issue and the characters. The reader slowly finds out more about this hostile group, but much of what is happening remains a mystery.A lot of the story involves the teens as they struggle with how to deal with the future and survive. Both their struggle with longer term issues (food, water, shelter) and short term issues (not getting captured and getting along with each other).Marsden writes the story in a way that conveys a lot of urgency and is very engaging. Parts of the book had me on the edge of my seat and holding my breath wondering what would happen next. There is a lot of interesting survival stuff in here as well. Which is something I always find interesting and enjoy reading about.Nothing is wrapped up in this book, but I enjoyed it enough that I will probably continue reading the series.Overall this was a very engaging and exciting story. There is a lot of action, survival skills, and mystery. I would recommend to those who enjoy fast-paced books about apocalyptic events, war, and/or survival. This book doesn’t really resolve anything but it does an excellent job of setting the story up. I enjoyed it enough that I will probably continue reading the series.

[xleptodactylous · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Oh, it's one of those.

I thought it was kind of written okay, since it was written in first person by an annoying teenage Aussie girl who apparently can't stop thinking about which boy she wants to duck. Come on, FUCK. But this is not my kind of book, with its obligatory awkward name. Thankfully there are no daft names and people seem to have normal-looking eyes. Generic YA survival shit. If you like that, fine, read it.

[nrobocop-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was entertaining in a popcorn way. I liked the Australian perspective, but had trouble really feeling for the characters.

[sweet_serenity · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I will begin by confessing that I watched the movie before I read the book. I adored the movie, but I felt that there were parts that weren't explained enough. Eg. Lee's seriousness/understanding of the situation at the beginning, which the book explains by his watching horror movies, and Kevin's mood swings which Ellie gives a fantastic explanation of towards the end.
When I started to read the book I was a little disappointed. The plot was still fantastic, and even had extra details, such as their plans for long-term survival that I found intriguing. However, I didn't really like the writing style. It seemed a little too 'everyday,' written to be realistic rather than to sound nice, and Ellie's love triangle seemed a bit odd/spontaneous.
However, as the book continued I found the everyday style bothered me less as I got into the action, and Ellie turned into a much more insightful character- her feelings were flushed out more, and everything started to make much more sense.
The only part that annoyed me a little from start to finish were the country/farming references, and some pop culture references that I felt were just kind of thrown in there with the expectation the audience was all-knowing. Perhaps I was just on the other side of a slight cultural divide, being from a different generation from the author, and not being from a country area.
Overall, the book starts out a little flat, but it grows into a fantastic novel that is somehow both action-filled and insightful. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, and although I fear it will evoke a violent paranoia in me, it will probably be worth it. :)

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My husband wondered if teenagers are different in Australia than they are here in America as we listened to this audiobook of this story. Parents send a group off teens, boys and girls, off alone to go camping in the wild. Invaders come and take over Australia. Teens fight back, setting up bombs and rescuing their friends. If this is an accurate picture of average Australian teens, Australia should feel quite proud. Quite certain our American counterparts would be knocked off in the first wave of trouble.

[devilish2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It took a while to get into the book. I felt there was a little too much scene-setting. Other than that, it was good. Good, varied characters. Realistic interactions and portrayals. Good plot development. Some really nice reflective periods with strong, positive messages. It touches on teenage sexuality in a realistic way.The only down side for me was getting to the end and finding out that I'd need to read the sequel(s)!

[abshepherd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this novel! It was fast-paced, gripping, and frighteningly realistic. I can not wait to read book two of the Tomorrow Series!

[mirkwood-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read the whole series on vacation this month. I can only describe it as basically the movie Red Dawn set in Australia. It was really well done and I can see why it is so popular for the youth of Australia. The series has a brutal honesty to it and I longed to see some kind of triumphant ending but knew all along it would never be the case. Kind of along the lines of Frodo coming home at last to a Shire in trouble. Good read.

[rata_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Seventeen-year-old Ellie Linton wants one final adventure with her friends before the school holidays are over. Packed in Ellie's parents' land rover they drive to the famously isolated rock pool Eden dubbed 'Hell' by the locals. Returning to their home town of Wirrawee, the seven teenagers realize that something is seriously wrong. Power to the houses has been cut, pets and livestock have been left dead or dying, and most alarmingly of all, everyone's family has vanished. When the hostile armed forces discover that the teenagers are lying low in the vicinity, Ellie and her friends must band together to escape, outwit and strike back against the mysterious enemy that has seized control of their town and imprisoned their friends and loved ones... Great action read which led me to read the next book....

[dauntless_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When a group of friends set off into the back country of Australia they could never have dreamed of what they returned home to. Their homeland had been invaded and now they must make some serious choices. Fight for their families who have been taken hostage, or stay hidden and try and survive.

[kelly_phillipa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Awesome, one of the few books I have read for the second time - its as good as when I first read it....book 2 here I come.

[lani9rose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favourite series. It's funny and fast paced and not as Super hero-ish as I thought it would be. I really love her character; she seems so much like any other ordinary teenage girl.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Tomorrow When the War Began by Australian author John Marsden is the story of a group of Australian teenagers who go into the bush for a few days of camping and return to find their country invaded, their town captured and their families held as prisoners. They have a choice to either surrender, or flee back into the hills. I felt that the author was able to capture the bewilderment, suspense and adventure of this situation as we read of how these teenagers cope. As a group they work through the stress, terror and desperation. While there is plenty of action to be had, Tomorrow When the War Began strikes me as more of a character study. The author develops his characters throughout the book, and by the end, these are very different people then they were when they first started out on their camping trip.The book is presented as a journal written by the main character, Ellie. We see the events through her eyes, and the author never lets us forget these are teenagers, as her written account gives as much attention to the age old teen questions of “Who is interested in who”, and “Does he/she like me?”. As the account is written by Ellie, what we hear about is strictly what Ellie sees and knows. As she openly admits, she didn’t take any interest in current affairs so we never learn why the country is invaded or even who the invaders are. By the end of the book, these eight teens have come to realize that their lives have changed, probably forever and they must make a final decision, do they hide or do they fight? As this is the first book in the series, everything is not neatly wrapped up but the author gives us a powerful, poignant ending. I am looking forward to the next book and continuing on with this adventure.

[thoughtsofjoylibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

During a break from school, seven Australian students take a camping trip to the bush. After a fun and relaxing time, they come home to barren streets and homes. The only evidence of life is a few animals.In general, I enjoyed this book. The characters represented a typical group of teenagers, and I liked Ellie, the narrator. The story line is what kept me intrigued, and I thoroughly liked the Australian setting, but it never panned out to be anything special. In the beginning when the friends are realizing that something is amiss, I questioned their low-keyed reactions. I think that set the tone for it to not be what I had expected.Originally posted on: Thoughts of Joy

[drexler5spiele · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A story about a group of adolescents who go on a trip in the woods and realize when they return that everything has changed. Their families are captured and the country has been invaded. Good read, although at times the actions these kids pull off are a bit over-the-top in comparison to other parts of the story. But a lot of moral questions, questions over existence and alike pop-up during reading.

[reginar_447079 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is such a fun start to a series. I feel weird writing "fun" when the story deals with a foreign invasion of one's country and home grown gorilla groups responding to the invasion. But .... it is fun. Tomorrow is told from the point of view of a high school girl Ellie, she is one of 8 kids hiding out in the wild and unpopulated area outside of their hometown. The theme is somewhat similar to Red Dawn if Red Dawn had been done better, told from the point of view of a girl and set in beautiful Australia. Now Red Dawn fans, please do not be offended -- for a movie it was done decently. But the character and scenario development is so much better fleshed out in Tomorrow, When the War Began. While the book deals with survivalist topics, it also centers around the relationships of 8 teenagers so it has some sweet and fun light moments.Fans of the apocalpyse or survivalist genre, young adult books and Australian authors will enjoy this book.

[readingwithtea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing or appreciating the risks we've run."John Marsden's Tomorrow series comes heavily recommended by Mini-Me and several of our cousins, including TNLRC. A movie was made last year and the books are now set reading in a number of Australian high schools. I can tell why - it's Lord of the Flies, but happier, and more Australian. I have to admit I was not captivated the way I expected to be (too much hype?) but I can see the quality of this for a teenage audience, particularly an Australian one.The principle is a simple one: Ellie and her friends remove themselves from civilisation for a few days on a bush adventure and come back to find their world changed - homes abandoned, working animals dying, and a total lack of power or communications. After a number of incidents in the town as they gather supplies and run across soldier patrols, they return to their bush hideout to take stock and survive; a retaliatory strike by the group results has dangerous consequences.I was surprised and confused by the use of gender in this novel - for a start, I was surprised to find a book written by a man and set in a pseudo post apocalyptic world narrated by a girl. Ellie isn't overly feminine (although two of the other female characters are very girly girls) but Marsden has captured a special character - much like Lyra in Northern Lights. Conversely, I was unconvinced by Kevin, who seemed quite weak as a character. I understood Marsden's intentions to make Homer the leader, the one with the life intelligence even though everyone thinks he's not got much between his ears, but it was a little overdone - his strategic knowledge is a little too good, too quickly. He tells the group to choose different rooms when a house is being searched by helicopter, so that they will have a 360 degree view as a group - really? On film it made more sense, but I still felt it was a little wise beyond his years.On the other hand, I felt that the plot and setting were very well done. Marsden has chosen (wisely) a simple, familiar setting (well, familiar to Australians!) and made a disaster scenario which requires little exposition. One day everything is normal, when the group comes back their world has changed. While certain scenes (particularly the incredible claw-lift truck incident) run high on adrenaline and not so much on character, the book is much more about the intra-group dynamic and major character development than it is about an invasion of a peaceful and highly desirable country.Having watched the film a few nights ago, I would recommend both or either as good "disaster" novels which are fairly light on the disaster but examine the emotions and relationships between 8 fairly normal teenagers under stress. The characters appear more real, more fragile and flawed, and both Kevin and Homer, with whose characterisation I have taken issue above, were much more credible.Well worth a read, particularly if Lord of the Flies put you off in school.

[strongpieces · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Originally posted at The Wandering Fangirl.I am never, ever messing with Australian teens, man. I've heard so many good things about this series for a while, and when I picked up the first book, I could see why. I read it in one sitting (with a caffeine deprivation headache) and enjoyed it thoroughly. Seeing how the teens adapt and grow into tiny adults as they struggle with the enormity of what's happening is wonderful, and seeing them go into action in the small ways they can made me cheer for them. I'll definitely be reading the rest of this series -- I already have book two from the library.

[pakelley_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The cover of John Marsden’s young adult novel, Tomorrow, When the War Began, tells little about the gritty, multi-faceted story within. The sepia-toned, image of a young adult (is it a boy or a girl?) holding a frayed piece of rope reminded me more of the old string joke than of a tightly written novel about war and its impacts. Tomorrow is told from the perspective Ellie, a typical teenage girl from rural Australia who organizes a camping trip for six of her friends. They return to empty houses and dead or starving pets. Where was everyone? The teens gradually realize that Australia has been invaded and their families are being held in a detention camp. Resistors are being rounded up, the houses bombed by circling fighter jets. When one of their party is shot in the leg, Ellie participates in a daring rescue that results in the death and injury of a number of the invading soldiers. Rather than reveling in their victory, Ellie and her friends are seriously conflicted. This is no Red Dawn story of vengence and chest thumping bravado. Each of the realistically drawn characters deal with the tragedy in their own way; some are justifiably outraged by the invasion, some terrified, one tries to see things from the invaders perspective. All are uncertain what they should do. They retreat to a remote mountain hideout to weigh their options and plan their next move. There, as they gather supplies and information, they begin to pair off—teenage hormones too powerful for even a war to interrupt. Eventually, the teens decide that action is their only option. They plan and carry out an act of sabotage but pay a high price. The novel ends ambiguously, leaving plenty of storytelling for the other six books in the series. Originally published in 1993, Tomorrow, When the War Began was written well before the current crop of dystopian fiction, but Ellie is a worthy precursor to Katniss in the Hunger Games, a realistic heroine placed in an impossible situation. And like Suzanne Collins, Marsden deftly weaves action and emotion into an exciting story that longs to be read.

[rizeandshine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As an older adult, I wasn't expecting much when I started this book, the first in a series about a foreign invasion of Australia written for young adults, however I was pleasantly surprised. Although I find the invasion part of the book a bit unrealistic, as well as some of the military action, I thought that the author did a great job exploring real issues faced by teens on their own in such a serious situation were handled very well. There are many important themes in the book involving guilt, resourcefulness, responsibility, courage, friendship, spirituality and more. The book is quite an adventure and I really enjoyed the kids' brave and heroic attempts to help each other and their family and friends during a time of war. I also love the rural setting and secluded bush hide-a-way the kids use to help them evade capture as well as the author's attention to detail. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find all of the books in the series at my local library, but I definitely want to continue the adventure.

[smg7gphillips · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i read a lot of books and this would have to be one of the best this year.the tomorrow series leaves you in suspense every time you finish a chapter, it makes you just wont to read more and more. five star

[borumas_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overall, I enjoyed this story which is about a group of friends returning from a camping trip to find their country has been invaded by a foreign enemy. The story is a little long in the tooth in some places but does manage to keep your interest, I will probably read others in the series.

[smg2laoun · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very tense, makes you not want to stop reading. That said, Tomorrow manages to be a hell of a lot more intelligent, exciting and mature than most books made with a teen audience in mind. There’s no witchcraft or wizardry, no vampires, werewolves, deceptively spacious closets or talking rodents. Just a ripper of a story and well-drawn, ordinary young people with everything at stake. It has every chance of being a smash hit, here and elsewhere, and deserves the chance to grow. Let’s hope Beattie and his hot young cast get that opportunity, because they’re definitely up to the challenge.