Grace has had to parent her mother for as long as she can remember. Katherine’s PTSD is so extreme that she has been hospitalised and is unable to work. She is often not an easy character with whom to sympathise – snippy with Claire, a burden throughout Grace’s childhood.
Grace had one true friend, Charlie, who left with his parents for England several years ago and has returned. Charlie reconnects with Grace in a fabulously drawn opening scene in which Charlie is introduced as a character of huge significance in Grace’s life and as a Little Person with a condition called achondroplasia.
The story follows Grace as she tries to cope with her life’s uncertainties through her practice of Jeet Kune Do and the teachings of Bruce Lee.
Not only must she contend with the closely guarded secrets of her past but with the disruption caused by her mother’s mental illness and her grandmother’s decline.
Trauma and death are dealt with unflinchingly, but the story is propelled by everything teenagers experience: love, sex, ambition, the search for identity and a place in the world.
Gracehopper dives into the complexity of life and how prejudiced people unnecessarily and thoughtlessly complicate it further for so many.
Grace and Charlie are beautifully realised characters, alive on every page. Their inspiring and heartwarming coming-of-age journey is a joy to read.
It is an epic, wonderfully constructed novel for older teenagers and everyone else.
Tune in to a Facebook Live chat with Mandy Hager on the Wardini Books page, Sunday May 26 at 4pm.
