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Speak louder

Three Young Adult novels by Indigenous writers
by
January-February 2024, no. 461

Burn by Melanie Saward

Affirm Press, $34.99 pb, 296 pp

Book 2 Cover Small (400 x 600)

We Didn’t Think It Through by Gary Lonesborough

Allen and Unwin, $19.99 pb, 300 pp

Borderland by Graham Akhurst

UWA Publishing, $22.99 pb, 236 pp

Speak louder

Three Young Adult novels by Indigenous writers
by
January-February 2024, no. 461

Melanie Saward, a Bigambul and Wakka Wakka writer living in Tulmur (Ipswich), is a fresh and insightful storyteller. Her first Young Adult novel, Burn (Affirm Press, $34.99 pb, 296 pp), is a tumultuous narrative about an Aboriginal youth, Andrew, and his obsession with lighting fires. It has a touch of Trent Dalton’s Brisbane struggle street, but the story draws us into psychological observation in Goori Andy’s cries for help and his longing for his parent’s attention. The novel begins with a bushfire lit by an unknown arsonist, in which a boy dies. This tragedy frames the narrative as we go on the journey with Andy and his mates Trent and Doug, wild teenagers who like to smoke dope and eat at McDonald’s. They are innocents in a world that ignores them as the author interrogates relationships between the lads and several irresistible young females.

Andy’s fragile inner world is torn apart by his parents’ and his stepfather’s neglect. Andy’s sadness and fear of never finding security pervade the small fires and the clicking of cigarette lighters in this pyromaniac’s pockets.

Burn

Burn

by Melanie Saward

Affirm Press, $34.99 pb, 296 pp

We Didn’t Think It Through

We Didn’t Think It Through

by Gary Lonesborough

Allen and Unwin, $19.99 pb, 300 pp

Borderland

Borderland

by Graham Akhurst

UWA Publishing, $22.99 pb, 236 pp

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