An incredible book. Deserved to win the award it received for best older reader for CBC book week. ( )

Tom Brennan is 17 and was the hero of the rugby team at his school before the accident. Now he is repeating Year 11 in a new town, having to face his old team on the field, and coping badly with visiting his brother in gaol and his cousin in hospital.

In a small community the waves that reverberate from a fatal crash caused by one of their own seem to go on forever. What of the family of the drunken driver? In this story they find that leaving town is the only way out. Even then each must come to terms in their own way.

This is a powerfully told story with all the more impact because any one of us might one day be in the situation that faces the Brennans. You can’t go back and as Tom finds, you can’t just forget. The only way is forward.

The relationship between Tom and his brother Daniel is very important in Burke’s book. Their cousin, Fin, was also like a brother to them, and their mother’s brother was close to Daniel and helped Tom come to terms with circumstances.

2006 Winner CBCA Award - Older readers ( )

This is a story about reaching the bottom and finding a way back up.
It’s about Tom Brennan whose family have to leave their home town after Tom’s older brother ends up in jail for killing two of his friends and severely injuring his cousin in a car accident due to drink-driving.
It’s a story about being young, popular, football-famous and then losing it all because of anger and egotism. It’s also about coming to terms with it all. Tom thinks he’ll never be able to enjoy life again, but gradually he comes to the surface again and makes friends in a new town. ( )

In an instant, so many lives can change. A terrible car accident sees 2 people killed, Tom’s brother Daniel in jail, his cousin Fin paralyzed, his mother trapped in her bed with depression and Tom & his sister Kylie having to start a new school after the family are “run out” of a small country town. Tom struggles to put his life back together.p.78-81 Tom’s memory of the accident. He & Matt are in the car behind. ( )