Finding Kerra by Rosanne Hawke
Rhiza Press, 2018. ISBN 9781925563474
(Age: Teenager/Young Adult) Recommended. While this novel is aimed
at an adolescent audience, it is also appropriate for adults in that
it is a significant story showcasing both the advantages and
disadvantages of living on a remote station in the Australian
outback. Having met Blake Townsend at school in Adelaide, Jaime
accepts his offer to visit his home during the school holiday break.
We are immediately plunged into outback life when she is confronted
by the snarling dogs that, she learns, 'are not pets' but working
dogs - that is, not friendly. This touch of irony may well alert us
to others being similarly unwelcoming, or at least initially
unfriendly.
This smoothly told narrative is well-structured, tapping into the
adolescent world and its potential to alienate those who may not fit
in. Trying hard to match what she sees with what she has experienced
growing up in Pakistan, Jaime is determined to embrace this chance
to spend a few weeks in an emotionally safe place, after a terrible
incident almost destroyed her on a recent visit to Afghanistan.
This is a 'good read' for adolescents and certainly an interesting
read for adults. The world of the text is aptly drawn, the
complications minor, but needing to be solved, and the outback as a
'character' is beautifully portrayed. The experience of 'being
there' in the hot, dry, huge open spaces of Australia, that
different world that so few of us actually experience, is for the
protagonist, and indeed the reader, significant.
Elizabeth Bondar