CRACKED

A wonderfully assured debut YA novel that captures the essence of real, messy teenage lives: of action and consequence, of poor choices and fragile friendships, of standing up for what is right, and the attempt to make sense of a world when everything feels like it's falling apart.

"People are so naturally strange, it's hard to tell if they're broken or not – but I'm pretty sure that by the time I finish high school, I'll be a pile of shards, beyond repair." At sixteen, Clover is finding the going tougher than she expected. Her life is close to fracturing on the rocky terrain of family, friendship, her passion for graffiti, first love and a planet on the brink of environmental disaster. Clover and Keek are both appealing (and flawed) and the friendship and attraction that develops (and is almost derailed) between them is well-paced and satisfying. They are both beset by challenging family relationships which intensify the drama and the plot. Cracked is intelligent and entertaining and the voice is totally believable. Clare Strahan is a Melbourne writer who once banged out a novel on a manual typewriter by candlelight. She is also a drama tutor with a passion for Shakespeare, a graduate of RMIT's Professional Writing & Editing course, and a writer of fiction and poetry for humans of all ages. She is a freelance editor, creator of the Literary Rats cartoon, and flutters about the twittersphere as @9fragments.