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  • Published: 1 February 2010
  • ISBN: 9780143011194
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $19.99

On the Jellicoe Road




A brilliant novel by the best-selling author of Looking for Alibrandi. Winner of the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature in 2009.

Taylor Markham is not a popular choice. She is erratic, has no people skills and never turns up to meetings. Not to mention the incident when she ran off in search of her mother and only got halfway there. But she's lived at Jellicoe School most of her life and as leader of the boarders that's her greatest asset. Especially now the cadets, led by the infamous Jonah Griggs, have arrived. The territory wars between the boarders, townies and cadets are about to recommence.

But Taylor has other things on her mind: a prayer tree, the hermit who whispered in her ear, and a vaguely familiar drawing in the local police station. Taylor wants to understand the mystery of her own past. But Hannah, the woman who found her, has suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but an unfinished manuscript about five kids whose lives entwined twenty years ago on the Jellicoe Road ...

  • Published: 1 February 2010
  • ISBN: 9780143011194
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $19.99

About the author

Melina Marchetta

Melina Marchetta is an internationally bestselling and award-winning author in more than twenty countries and eighteen languages. Her eighteen books range from beloved young adult fiction and fantasy through to contemporary and crime fiction, and works for younger readers. Her much-loved Australian classic Looking for Alibrandi swept the pool of literary awards when it was published, and was also released as a film, adapted by Marchetta, winning an AFI Award and an Independent Film Award for best screenplay, as well as the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award. In 2009 Marchetta won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association. Her most recent novel is The Place on Dalhousie. She lives in Sydney.

Also by Melina Marchetta

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Praise for On the Jellicoe Road

This book is brilliant, and should exceed the expectations of even those who loved Alibrandi.

The Canberra Times

The Sydney author of Looking for Alibrandi has crafted another exquisite coming of age novel full of flesh and blood characters you'll have trouble dislodging from your thoughts long after the end ... Marchetta proves herself a master storyteller ... I've been reading on trains for 16 years and never missed my stop - until now ... One to lose yourself in.

Who Weekly

What she writes is always worth waiting for.

Viewpoint

Melina Marchetta has a knack for writing stories that swallow you up and refuse to let you go until you've read every last word.

Sydney Morning Herald

This roller coaster ride of a novel grabs you from the first sentence and doesn't let go. You may not be sure where the ride will take you, but every detail - from the complexities of the dual narrative to the pangs of first love - is pitch perfect.

Mary Arnold, Michael L. Printz Award Committee Chair, American Library Association

... you'll be very impressed!

Girlfriend

This is Marchetta's most sophisticated novel; it opens cryptically and is imbued with subtle mystery that crisply unfolds in uncluttered, evocative prose ...

The Australian

... time flashes forward ... histories bleed together and two generations of friends bear uncanny resemblances to one another. Readers may feel dizzied and disoriented, but ... they will find themselves ensnared in the story's fascinating, intricate structure. A beautifully rendered mystery.

Kirkus

Suspenseful plotting, slowly unravelling mysteries, and generations of romance shape the absorbing novel.

Horn Book Review

Awards & recognition

WAYRBA Children's Choice Awards

Winner  •  2008  •  Older Readers