It is in this tradition that Trinity Doyle has written Pieces of Sky – a novel that beautifully captures the euphoria, the confusion, the fear and the challenge of being a teenager.įrom the opening lines, I was hooked. There was John Marsden’s So Much To Tell You, which was striking for the fact that it was written in a teenage, Australian voice. What I don’t remember is reading much Australian young adult fiction. When I think back to the books I read as a teenager, I remember Trixie Belden, Anne of Green Gables, the Judy Blume cannon, and Lorna Hill’s Sadler’s Wells series. Then, there is the mystery of the anonymous texts that keep appearing on Cam’s phone that suggest her brother was harbouring some secrets of his own.Īs Lucy battles to discover the identity of the mystery texter, she must also deal with conflicting feelings for her brother’s best friend, Ryan, and music-loving, Evan, the intriguing new boy at school. Her mother is barely able to function, while her dad bottles up his feelings by throwing himself into work and ignoring his own, and his family’s suffering.

The pool is no longer a refuge, and life at home is no easier. Now, the mere thought of swimming is causing Lucy to have panic attacks. No matter how bad I crave those last few weeks with him back, and to know they would be his last, to somehow reach out and stop him, time will keep taking me further away.

But when her 18 year old brother, Cam, drowns on a surfing trip, Lucy’s life begins to spiral out of control.

16 year old Lucy Taylor is a girl who lives by the rules – a champion backstroker living in a small, coastal town on the New South Wales north coast.

Pieces of Sky by Trinity Doyle