Review: Ghost Bird

It took me a while to review this book — to unpack the genius and unfurl the powerful tendrils of fiction, nonfiction, truth and history.

To say this is a powerful story actually feels like an understatement.

Maybe powerful is not the right word. 

Consuming. 

That's a better word to describe Ghost Bird.

It’s a book that completely fills your mind and attention.

Ghost bird is the tale of Stacey Thomson: a twin, a girl from an outback town, an aboriginal girl who wants nothing more than to leave her world behind and escape to pursue her dreams.

But when her twin sister Laney goes missing, and she starts to dream of Laney in a bad, dark place, Stacey must find the strength to face the stories of her people, challenge her family’s ways and find her sister before it’s too late.

Make no mistake, Stacey loves and respects her family more than anything. She obeys the rules and she accepts the directions of her elders. But if she’s going to save Laney, she’s going to have to go where her family has warned her never to go. She’ll have to cross lines that should never be crossed.

Ghost Bird is a story of deep love — the kind of love that exists even when you almost hate the other person. It’s about family, tradition, history and a sisterly bond that can never be broken.

This is also a book about history and about being Aboriginal in a small outback town. It’s about a family that's lived on their lands for generations and what happened to them when the white men came.

I believe this makes Ghost Bird a book every Australian teenager should read. Have you ever thought what it means to live in a town divided? Even now, even today when things have apparently changed, what does living in a town with so much history mean, and how would it affect you?

Ghost Bird is a brilliant and gripping read. Filled with mystery and suspense, it's masterful storytelling. If you love YA that’s real and raw, mysterious and deep, Ghost Bird is for you.

I also suspect this is a novel lots of people are going to be talking about for a long time, so I’d get in early so you can be part of the conversation.

Title: Ghost Bird
Author: Lisa Fuller
Publisher: UQP, $19.95
Publication Date: 1 November 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 7022 6023 0
For ages: 13+
Type: Young Adult Fiction

from Kids' Book Review https://ift.tt/36iBq3o