A new John Marsden book is usually a signal to his many fans that another good read is available.  Winter should not disappoint them.

Many elements from his previous stories are there - a female teenage narrator, who has to take control in an adult world, in order to understand where she fits in to a story that is being kept from her.

Winter is a sixteen year old orphan who returns to her family farm from boarding school, desperate to know how her parents died.  She feels she was involved somehow but no-one will tell her.  So she pries and delves and demands answers, growing up with each difficult step. Finally, she is caught in a "bandaid" dilemma - keep it covered and hope it goes away, or rip it off and expose the pain.

But first she must also save her farm from managers who have been exploiting it in her absence, make friends with the good looking neighbour, bring her reclusive old aunt out from behind her walls, and decide whether to go back to school.

The story could easily become a soap opera, but Marsden manages to build the tension as Winter gradually pieces her story together.  His skill is demonstrated in Winter's final discovery.  It is both unexpected, and predicted (with hindsight!) by clues in the earlier story.

The ending is perhaps a little too "happy-ever-after" given the traumas Winter must face but this simply highlights the importance of her making the journey on her own terms and under her own control. Once she knows her story, her life can begin again.

Winter is another successful addition to John Marsden's impressive list of teenage novels and is sure to please his many fans.

Other books by this author:
Burning for Revenge (Pan Macmillan, 1997)
The Other Side of Dawn (Pan Macmillan, 1999)

Review by David Beagley

© 2001 David Beagley