In a dusty Queensland town, something terrible has happened.Amongst broken bottles and cigarette butts at the foot of a water tower, a girl with blonde hair lies as if sleeping. Jennifer Day has lost her sister and her singing voice, and doesn't know how to find either of them. Her father and mother move under a spell, and a dark silence lives in the space that fiery, rebellious Beth has left behind her. To recover her voice, Jennifer must retrace her sister's last steps, weeding out childish mementoes from disturbingly adult memories. As she learns about the last year of her sister's short but eventful life, she slowly begins to cross the threshold from childhood into adolescence - taking flight even as her family slowly falls apart. [This book description comes from a different edition of this title. Please report any inaccuracies].

 

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards

This book is aimed at children at US 9th grade+.

This book has been graded for interest at 14 years.

There are 384 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2010 by Random House USA Inc .

Karen Foxlee was born in Mount Isa, Australia. She trained and worked as a nurse before studying for a degree in creative writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. She is the author of five books, including The Anatomy of Wings, which won the Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book in the South East Asia and South Pacific region, and Lenny's Book of Everything, which is published by Pushkin Children's Books.