Realistic Fiction

Realistic Fiction genre

Girl, Nearly 16 Absolute Torture

Just when things were going so well. Jess had the perfect summer planned: She and Fred, lounging in the park, gazing into one another’s eyes and engaging in witty repartee. It was going to be so romantic. And then her maddening mum stepped in: She suddenly announced a two-week “road trip” to Cornwall to visit Jess’s dad, something Jess might have enjoyed, actually, were it not for the monstrously bad timing. Not only will this force Jess and Fred apart for two whole weeks, it will also leave the darling and handsome Fred in the clutches of Jess’s blindingly beautiful best friend, Flora—who, you might recall, expressed an interest in Fred not too long ago. As if all this weren’t enough, Jess’s mum seems to expect her to weep at the grave of every departed literary hero in Britain’s long history. It’s absolute torture. And little does Jess know, a huge surprise awaits her when she visits her dad at his home for the first time in years.

Checkers

She lives in the best suburb. She goes to the finest school. Her family is wealthy and powerful. She has everything money can buy. So why are there reporters outside her house? And why is her father telling lies on television? And why is the Premier talking about them in State Parliament? Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. Riveting and compulsively readable, John Marsden’s Checkers plunges us deep in the mind and world of a teenage girl whose life has spun completely out of control.

Memory (Phoenix Award Book)

On the fifth anniversary of his sister’s death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart is still troubled by guilt and an imperfect memory of the accident that took hr life. He goes searching for the only other witness to the fatal event, his sister’s best friend. But instead of finding the answers he’s looking for, he finds Sophie — a gentle old woman suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, who teaches him about remembering and about loss.

The Year Of Secret Assignments

The Ashbury-Brookfield pen pal program was designed to bring together the “lowlife Brooker kids” (as they’re known to the Ashburyites) and the “rich Ashbury snobs” (as they’re called by the Brookfielders) in a spirit of harmony and the Joy of the Envelope. But things don’t go quite as planned. Lydia and Sebastian trade challenges, like setting off the fire alarm at Brookfield. Emily tutors Charlie in How to Go On a Date with a Girl. But it’s Cassie and Matthew who both reveal and conceal the most about themselves — and it’s their secrets and lies that set off a war between the two schools.

Out Of His League

When Ozzie, an Australian exchange student, arrives in the West Texas town of Hope, life in America seems completely foreign. But his skills on the rugby pitch translate onto the football field as he becomes the star of a team in desperate need of a miracle to save their losing season.  As Ozzie settles in, America really does feel like the land of opportunity, and he soon finds himself torn between the lure of this new country and the ties that bind him to his home in Australia. This co-mingling of cultures offers a fresh perspective of life in a Texas town where football is life, winning is everything, and the rest is just details. 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Christopher is 15 and has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. He is obsessed with maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he finds a dead dog on a neighbour’s lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it.

My Saucy Stuffed Ravioli: The Life of Angelica Cookson Potts

While preparing for and going on vacation to Italy with her friends and family, food-loving English teenager Angelica deals with her unrequited love for Sydney, her fear of being seen in public in a bikini, and her worries that her mother might be having an affair.

True Confessions Of A Heartless Girl

“A quietly astonishing work of art.” – Starred, Quill & QuireIn the midst of a heaven-rattling summer storm a young stranger blows into a small prairie town. On the run after taking her latest boyfriend’s truck, with a pocketful of stolen money and a heart full of pain, seventeen-year-old Noreen Stall seems to invite trouble. And trouble comes soon enough as Noreen’s new mistakes trigger calamities that shake the lives of the residents of Pembina Lake: Lynda Bradley, a divorced mother and owner of a failing café who’s given up on life and love; Dolores Harper, the village elder who, in spite of her signature sweatshirt that says MEDDLING FOR JESUS, has lost her enthusiasm for helping others; and Del Armstrong, a middle-aged bachelor farmer who is still paying for the tragic events of his own seventeenth summer.Set against the vast skies of a prairie landscape, with a rich cast of unforgettable characters and an unlikely heroine as endearing as she is tough, this affecting novel reminds readers that it’s never too late for forgiveness – and that sometimes the most unlikely messenger can deliver a small miracle.