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."

When she runs across a book/journal written by Hannah, she begins to unveil some long-standing secrets. Along with some friends from her school, she has several creepy encounters and a variety of adventures. There is some sort of rivalry described between the two groups of kids...but I was pretty confused so I can't say I ever really grasped what that was about for sure.

History of the Iron Duke

Same with Griggs' father- he did occasional nice things in between beating the shit out of his family, and Griggs fears that one day he'll forget about the bad things and start believing that he killed an innocent man. The Topic of Cancer: Tate dies, because The Power of Love and a reunited family aren't going to stop cancer. Nobody ends up magically getting along well, but with time and effort, they make a reasonable start. 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. I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12 - Jesus, did you?" This quote belongs to Stephen King, but it describes the soul of Melina Marchetta's Jellicoe Road perfectly. The story is set around the life of Taylor Lily Markham, the 17-year-old leader of the boarding school on the Jellicoe Road (country NSW/ ACT). Taylor was abandoned at the 7/11 on the Jellicoe Road by her mother when she was 11, and her only recollection of her father is a brief memory of sitting on her father's shoulders. The only adult influence in her life is her mentor/guardian Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river, and writes stories about five kids who lived there in the 1980s and who has suddenly vanished into thin air at a time when Taylor really needs her.

Self-Made Orphan: Played half-straight. Jonah killed his father, but his mother's still alive. The bastard deserved it, though. I know many people did not enjoy this book because of the writing style and the confusion of the first half. It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. But for me, it was perfection.Mood Whiplash: Taylor references this when she says that she feels like an abusive father, one second a monster, and the next human.