A compelling and touching coming-of-age story set in the magnificent Australian outback. All my helpless, angry thoughts suddenly came together to form one word.One answer.Australia.On the other side of the world.An escape from everything Stacey's life's not great. Her dad's run off, she and her mum live alone in a poky flat, school's one big bore and her friends are all bad news. Then, out of the blue, a glamorous gran she's never met comes to visit all the way from Australia. When Stacey gets the worst news yet, Grandma Glendine has the perfect solution Suddenly, Stacey's life in grey old London is swapped for the heat, dust, flies, and even scorpions and snakes, of the outback. Will all this (plus yuck! an outside toilet) prove too much for Stacey the city-girl? And is her flashy, rich gran quite who she seems? An accessible, beautifully researched novel, written by an author who always tells a cracking good story.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 10-14 years.

There are 272 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 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers .

Lynne Reid Banks is the author of the award-winning Indian in the Cupboard.