Libby Hathorn

Valley under the Rock is, I suppose, a young adult novel but there was enough here to keep me interested.

Zoe Brahe is a 14 year old girl who has just had her first sexual encounter. Sean said he would call her the next day but he didn't. Now she is away on holidays with her mother and brother in their family cottage in Megalong (an Aboriginal word meanind valley under the rock). She is miserable and even more upset when one of her mother's waif comes for a few days. Connie is brash and much show more too prone to use the word cute but she has had a tough life. Nevertheless, Zoe is determined to not like her. Connie makes a difference in everyone's lives and so do the other visitors, Anna and Tamara, who are Russian. Tamara is devastated to learn that a coup has taken place in Russia and she is determined to fly back to her family right away. The effects these people have on Zoe is profound and she even learns new things about her mother.

I loved the description of the Mermaid's Cave, an ancient place favoured by the Aboriginals. Maybe some day I'll visit the Valley under the Rock. show less

Lara's mother dies and Lara is sent to live with a father she doesn't know and his new family. Her father's wife and her new sisters are not all eager to have her join the family, who are struggling to survive in a remote part of Australia. There's a terrible bully at her new school who adds to Lara's unhappiness. Then she finds a dog she names Thunderwith and at last she has something of her own.

This is one of those 1001 Children's Books that could by read and enjoyed by teens or adults. show more The characters are compelling and real, and there are no stereotypical good guys or bad guys in this story. We're rooting for Lara, of course, but we also grow to see and understand the world from the eyes of the stepmother and even the bully. show less

Lara goes to live with her father, whom she can barely remember, after the death of her mother. Lara has to adjust to a different lifestyle, one with a hostile stepmother and little half-siblings. Lara's passage is made easier by the existence of Thunderwith, a dingo-looking dog. When Thunderwith is shot and dies, Lara can feel the presence of her mother closer than before, comforting her.

Moving tale of Lara who has lost her mother to cancer and must now live in the forest with the father she has never known, his grumpy wife and four half-siblings younger than her. As she struggles to cope with her mother's death, her father's long absences mean that she is at the mercy of Gladwyn ( her step mother) who shows very little love and affection for Lara because she is battling her own demons. In contrast, most of her half-siblings are lovely, with the exception of Pearl, the show more closest in age, who sees Lara as a threat and a nuisance. The only thing that unites them is their fear of the school bully Gowd Gadrey who wants Lara to give up her most precious possession. Lara is helped through all this change and uncertainity and fear by a half dingo/dog she calls Thunderwith, to whom she can tell all her secrets until a terrible thing happens with Gowd. show less