I believe it could have had a better ending, but it was still a fitting end to the story. ( )

Opening Sentence: '..."You're Joking"...'

Darcy Abbott is a young teen who lives with her mum in a small community by the sea. in Victoria, Australia Her father died when she was very small. Her mother is a nurse, and needs to update her qualifications - so heads to Melbourne for 3 months leaving Darcy behind with 'Misery' her disapproving grandmother, and 'Batty' her great-grandmother. Misery has made Batty move in with her after a series of operations.

Darcy is horrified but moves into the depressing angst ridden household ,but things go from bad to worse when she is is given a school assignment to find out about how her family were affected by World War II. Darcy's mum has told her to never mention the war to Misery and Batty, and even a tentative enquiry leads to a huge argument. So Darcy goes undercover to look into the mysterious death of her great-grandfather and makes some horrendous discoveries.

Issues of family secrets, bullying, racism, small town small-mindedness are all skilfully handled. Misery, Batty, even Darcy's nemesis ‘Neanderthal’ are all skilfully developed as flawed-but-not-irredeemable characters. Her teacher, ‘The Newt’, Uncle 'Boof' and her best friend, Laura provide support for Darcy while her mother is away. Darcy’s exploration of the circumstances of her great-grandfather’s death illuminate a lesser-known tragedy of World War II and put a human face to war and its far-reaching effects. other themes include coping with loss, family relationships, the effects of war, friendship and bullying.

Finding Darcy is a very thought provoking and powerful novel and I discovered a lot more about Australians in World War II, both the Australian soldiers and how their families dealt with the war while their husbands, fathers, brothers and loved ones were away. The book also dealt with bullying and how people are affected by it. ( )