Ghost Bird

By Author / Illustrator

Lisa Fuller

Genre

Suspense & Thrillers

Age range(s)

14+

Publisher

Old Barn Books

ISBN

9781910646809

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

21-10-2021

Synopsis

A thrilling, multi award-winning, teen ghost story, from a First Nations Australian author, drawing on the culture and beliefs of her close-knit community.

Stacey and Laney are twins and mirror images of each other but as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey wants to go places, do things and be someone different while Laney just wants to skip school and sneak out of the house to meet her boyfriend Troy. When Laney doesn't come home one night, the town assumes she's just doing her normal run-off, but Stacey's gut tells her different. Stacey knows her twin isn't dead - she just doesn't know where she is; she can see her in her dreams but doesn't know if she is real or imagined. Holding onto the words her Nan taught her is one thing but listening to those around you is another - who will Stacey trust? As the town starts to believe that Laney is missing for good, can she find her twin in time?

'Part coming-of-age story, part "Romeo and Juliet" romance, part speculative fiction, part Aboriginal spiritual revelation, part mystery - this is a story that is mature on many levels.' ReadPlus

Reviews

Ghost Bird is a cultural tour de force from First Nations Australian author Lisa Fuller; drawing on her culture, customs and beliefs, Lisa delivers an incredible YA story with a dark heart that has so many elements to it.

In brief: Laney has gone missing. At first she's thought to have run off with her boyfriend, but when he turns up he has a different story. While the police remain indifferent to her disappearance (in stark contrast to the resources devoted to the frankly abhorrent Dan, later), Laney's family mobilise themselves to cover the area and organise a search.

The outlook is bleak. However, Laney's twin Stacey, the mirror image of her sister, is having dreams of Laney, as Laney. Laney's incarceration as vivid to her as if it were happening to Stacey herself. Stacey doesn't want to believe the importance of her dreams. She knows, but doesn't accept, that her dreams could be a connecting of worlds and it takes guidance from her elders to accept and act on her dreams. To trust her instincts. With a scrap of a story as a potential clue to Laney's fate Stacey heads to the local historical society for information.

The documented history starts when two Norwegian brothers discovered the town and land...there is no history before that. Nor is there witness to the painful history of the hardships endured by the First Nations Australians following the arrival of the brothers. No, it's the same history that is taught in school. With no clear answer and the increasing urgency of the dreams, Stacey is driven to disregard a family feud and ask for the help of a Miller; she needs the sort of history that is taught at home.

Lisa Fuller highlights here not only the importance of family loyalty and connection but also the significant value of family and generational knowledge. With twins Laney and Stacey, mirror images of each other, Lisa can play with the ideas of new versus old, science versus beliefs, Stacey's understanding that a formal education offers a way out against Laney's certainty that nothing will break the limits imposed on a First Nations teen in a small, rural town in Queensland, Australia.

What are the main themes you can expect in Ghost Bird? Customs and beliefs, kinship, respect, community, relationships, racism. There's so much to spark debate. I adored the wisdom of Nan and the small insight into customs and spiritual beliefs of a rich culture that I'm woefully ignorant of. I would cheerfully recommend this to any student who doesn't mind swearing in a book!

288 pages / Reviewed by Catherine Purcell, school librarian