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    Volcano Street
    Unavailable
    Volcano Street
    Unavailable
    Volcano Street
    Ebook350 pages5 hours

    Volcano Street

    By David Rain

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    'What would Germaine do?'

    This is the mantra that Skip and Marlo Wells turn to as they navigate their way through the twists and turns that life brings. Such as the sectioning of their mother Karen Jane. Marlo puts her faith in her hero, Germaine Greer, and twelve-year-old Skip trusts her clever big sister to know the right thing to do. But when the sisters are forced to move to their Auntie Noreen and Uncle Doug's home in the backwater city of Crater Lakes even Marlo can't think of a solution. At age sixteen, Marlo is forced to quit school and work in the family hardware store. Skip manages to get on her auntie's bad side from the get-go and is an outcast at school as she vehemently declares the injustice of the Vietnam War - not what Noreen wants to hear with her precious son Barry off fighting.

    Skip and Marlo dream of escape from Crater Lakes but with Karen Jane's release nowhere on the horizon they resign themselves to their new life. Before long they make the acquaintance of the Novak brothers - Skip's classmate Honza and his eternally cheerful older brother Pavel. Marlo becomes entangled with the local drama teacher, leaving Skip to explore the town's haunts with Honza. Skip learns about the mysterious Dansie residence, a secluded house that once belonged to Roger Dansie - an actor and the closest thing to a local hero that Crater Lakes ever had. As the days roll on the Wells sisters are drawn ever deeper in to the lives of their new acquaintances, learning that their first impressions of Crater Lakes may not be as accurate as they believed. Against the backdrop of a broken home, the fight for equality and a far off war Volcano Street is a heartfelt tale of acceptance and belonging, and learning what family truly means.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Books
    Release dateDec 4, 2014
    ISBN9781782394068
    Unavailable
    Volcano Street
    Author

    David Rain

    David Rain is an Australian writer who lives in London. He has taught literature and writing at universities, including Queen's University of Belfast, University of Brighton, and Middlesex University, London. He is the author of The Heat of the Sun.

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    Reviews for Volcano Street

    3.5/5

    4 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this, David Rain captures the spirit of twelve year old 'Skip', an adventurous tomboy, and sixteen year old Marlo, both desperately unhappy to find themselves living with their estranged aunt and uncle in Crater Lake. The cast is lively and interesting, from obese Auntie Noreen to Skip's on-and-off-again best friend, Honza, to the enigmatic Ghost of Dansie House. Rain vividly evokes some of the best and worst elements of Australian life in the 1970's and the claustrophobic oppression of a small country town.
    • 3/5
      Another Aussie novel from the library. Two sisters are sent to stay with their aunt in a small town called Crater Lakes when their mother has a nervous breakdown (seems to be a theme!) 'Skip' is a twelve year old tomboy who hooks up with the lad next door to face up to a gang of school bullies, while her sixteen year old sister Marlo, with feminist ambitions, just wants to finish school. They get to know the locals and uncover a few long-buried secrets, including the scandal of Roger Dansie.Getting into the story took me a while, I must admit, even though 'Skip' reminded me - in spirit if not in sympathy - of Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm not sure why the author chose to make the main character a girl when the book obviously has an autobiographical slant, because 'Skip' is a pre-pubescent boy in all but (birth) name. Unless he thought that having a girl beat up the bully would be more entertaining (and he would be right). I got used to 'Skip' eventually, but the pointless scene where she starts her period at school and runs home covered in blood was a worthy successor to the scene in Stephen King's Carrie for male authors not understanding menstruation, and threw me back out of the moment.The 'story in a story' of local golden boy turned pariah, Roger Dansie, was more interesting, but the 'commune' in the haunted house was a bit far-fetched, and the heavy-handed themes of the Ibsen play put on by the local am dram players reminded me of Mansfield Park. A random but readable book, with a quirky if slightly cliched cast of characters.