"The doubts of yesterday left as soon as I caught my first wave. I felt so strong and powerful and forgot the crap in my life as I skimmed down the face of a wave."

Julie is getting her life back together after the tragedy that destroyed her family. She has a passion for surfing, and is making new friends and finally starting to feel like she belongs.
When her brother Toby wants to leave Sydney and return to the bush to live, and Aunt Jean becomes unwell, Julie fears she is losing what's left of her family, and wonders if she is being punished for being happy.

While Julie continues to be besieged with dramas, she also finds an inner strength, and vows to stop crying and make this her laughing year.

"The letter sat there. Why did it look so innocent? I guess because it was only words on paper. But what would those words say?"

It's a year later in Julie's life and it's the summer holidays. Surfing has become her main passion; a key part in her healthy recovery from the family tragedy that has previously encompassed her life. Julie is ambitious and aims to surf in competitions. Living in Bondi has become normal and it feels like her home.

Julie is aware of and struggles with the fact that her family misfortune has given her the opportunity to dream, something that wouldn't have been possible back on the farm. Sometimes she feels guilty about being happy.

Julie's father's court case occurred late in the previous year. The memories are still fresh in Julie's mind. It is the first time she and her brother, Toby, had seen their father since before the tragedy. They have confusing emotions and find it a very difficult ordeal. The sentencing of their father allows Julie to try and seek to understand the circumstances that led up to why things went so terribly wrong for her family.

She has already told her Bondi friends, Phoebe and Jasmine, the truth about her past but is reluctant to tell a new surfing girlfriend. Toby is spending the school holidays with Uncle Wayne who is building another house on their family farm. Julie's old friend Ruby wants her to come and stay at the waterhole for some of the holidays. Julie doesn't feel ready, to return, yet.

There's leftover business from Julie's father in the form of a letter. Julie hadn't read it because of fear. The letter tormented her as it sat in her underwear drawer until Toby and her finally pluck up the courage to read it.

Laurene Kelly has worked with abused children and women in refuges for many years, and now works part-time as a carer of children. Her interest in young adult fiction derives from a wish to give hope to teenagers in our often chaotic and confusing world. She lives in Tasmania, where she cares for her elderly mother. She is the author of two other young adult novels, I Started Crying Monday, and The Crowded Beach.

ISBN 1876756527 180pp 128x198mm pb Territories:World  All rights:Spinifex

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