Bookverdict.com

Gr 9-Up Herrick's verse style perfectly suits this emotionally taut survival story. Sixteen-year-old Lucy has turned bitter and cynical from her farming family's strained relationships caused by her father's physical and emotional abuse. In direct contrast is the other family in this near-barren valley, whose farm's relative prosperity reflects the loving and respectful relationship shared between 15-year-old Jake and his parents. As a young man, Jake's father was sure...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Australian poet Herrick sets his poignant coming-of-age verse novel in a remote outback valley (the "ass-end of the earth"). Only two families live there: the dysfunctional, despised Hardings and the contrastingly contented Jacksons. Although the novel is told primarily in the spare first-person voices of teens Lucy Harding and Jake Jackson, this is Lucy's story. She bears the brunt of her abusive father's anger, using the wall ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Herrick sets his spare verse novel in an outback valley inhabited by the dysfunctional Hardings and the Jacksons. When Lu...Log In or Sign Up to Read More