Finding Darcy
Age 12+
General Fiction
When teenager Darcy Abbott is sent to live with her surly grandmother and silent great-grandmother she uncovers a mystery regarding the death of her great-grandfather, Darcy Charles Fletcher, during World War II. In her quest for answers, she discovers exactly what she has been searching for all her life – except she didn’t know it.
Finding Darcy is a coming-of-age novel by award-winning Australian author Sue Lawson.This young adult fiction book is about the damage that secrets can wreak over generations – and the healing liberation of truth. Long-listed for a Golden Inky and short-listed for the Children’s Peace Literature Awards. For more realistic YA by Sue, read Allie McGregor’s True Colours, After, Dare You, Pan’s Whisper, Forget Me Not and You Don’t Even Know. Sue’s website is www.suelawson.com.au
“This is a special book. The shadows the past casts on one family – and on our society – are brilliantly explored in the voice of a young girl. Sue Lawson manages to weave the profound with the everyday language of a teenager.” Jackie French.
“Written in teenage vernacular, humorous and topical, the novel is nevertheless a serious commentary on the effects of name-calling and cyber-bullying on adolescents. The strength of this novel is that it manages to be quite didactic about the issue, as well as the evils of racism and government indifference, while still engaging teenagers in a relevant school scenario. Recommended.” Magpies magazine
“Finding Darcy is a compelling journey of discovery … Darcy is a fully-developed, likeable character who struggles to adapt to her challenging new living environment. Issues of family secrets, bullying, racism, small town small-mindedness are all handled realistically and sensitively.” Aussie Reviews
“Intense, skilful writing makes this rather serious novel a thoroughly memorable read, provoking the reader to pause and think deeply about the futility, destructiveness and pain of war. As Darcy learns, if we worked a little harder to understand and value one another, the world would be a much more peaceful place in which to live. Highly recommended.” NSW Association of Gifted & Talented Children
“Lawson has a beautiful way of sharing her world with the reader and the storyline had me entirely invested in the outcome … The humour, drama and tension of this novel, along with the peppering of our country’s war history, is an amazing read exploring the relationships between four generations of women.” Persnickety Snark
“Fiction firmly based in Australian history, Finding Darcy is a book which will help young readers not only understand the effects of war, but maybe understand their own families a little more … From the first page to the last I was extremely moved.” The Reading Stack
Resources
Creators
Sue Lawson writes books for children and young adults. Her love for books began when she was a child on a farm in country Victoria where she spent her time reading, writing, listening to her father and grandfather’s stories and avoiding working with the cattle. These days, she's added stationery shops to her football obsession and when not writing, teaches and runs workshops for young people and adults. Sue’s novels include Forget Me Not and Pan’s Whisper, which was short-listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and winner of the 2012 Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature. Sue’s website is www.suelawson.com.au
Reviews
The humour, drama and tension of this novel, along with the peppering of our country’s war history is an amazing read exploring the relationships between four generations of women. I loved each of the character’s complexity, their journey to understanding and organic growth. It is all these things that helped me decide to make it one of my texts for English this year. I think that is the best recommendation I can give a book (and that I will be reading her other titles).
This is a special book. The shadows the past casts on one family—and on our society— are brilliantly explored in the voice of a young girl. Sue manages to weave the profound with the everyday language of a teenager.
