Winter

Publishers Weekly

In what PW called "an engrossing novel," a 16-year-old girl returns to her late parents' estate determined to solve the riddle of their death. Ages 12-up. (Jan.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

KLIATT

Most Americans know the Australian writer Marsden for his thrilling series that starts with Tomorrow When the War Began, in which a small group of teenagers stage guerilla warfare against an unnamed enemy that has taken over their part of Australia. The narrator Winter in this novel could be a part of that intrepid group. She is an orphan who has returned to her parents' large homestead to take charge of her own life—even at 16. She is fierce, determined, and not especially charming. We soon admire her, especially as she quickly sums up the fact that the couple managing the homestead are doing a poor job. In fact, they are corrupt, so she insists that they be fired immediately. As she finds her parents' graves, she learns that they did not die together in a sailing accident as she had been told: her mother had died some months after her father. She is mystified, but determined to unearth the truth about her mother's death, even if the truth is difficult to accept. Winter's stamina is impressive; and, as her confidence builds, she is able to reach out to make friends. She becomes a more likeable human being. The setting of the Australian countryside is exotic for American readers, who will soon get past the Australian vocabulary challenges. This is a short novel that will be a quick read for most YAs, who will be turning pages eagerly to follow Winter's narration, filled with action and emotion. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2000, Scholastic, 146p.,
— Claire Rosser

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-In this short but satisfying Australian novel, 16-year-old Winter is determined to know the truth about her parents. Orphaned at four years old, she has spent most of her life with cold, uncaring relatives in Canberra. Now she has returned to her childhood home, Warriewood. Instead of answers, however, she finds more problems, from an irritating but intriguing boy next door to the crooked managers who are supposed to take care of her land and cattle but are instead stealing from the estate. Told that her parents drowned in a sailing accident, Winter visits their graves and discovers that her mother actually died six months after her father. To find out what really happened, she confronts the local authorities, a doctor, and her strong-willed great aunt, any or all of whom may be trying to cover up the truth. At first, the teen seems stubborn to the point of unreasonableness, but before long readers will warm to her and cheer her on. As the secrets of her past are revealed, she takes charge of her inheritance and of her life; at the same time, her icy reserve begins to thaw. The facts of her mother's death, when they finally come out, are unexpected enough to make for a gratifying conclusion. Teens will especially enjoy the ferocity with which Winter stands up to the adults who try to take advantage of her.-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An Australian import that examines the reverberations a traumatic past has upon the present. Winter is a girl who knows what she wants, and now at 16, she aims to get it. In foster care with diligent but unloving relatives for the past 12 years, she has nagged them and her lawyer into allowing her to return to her family's cattle ranch. Her goal is not simply to return home-she needs to discover the truth behind her parents' deaths. When he isn't writing about hypothetical guerrilla wars, Marsden (The Night Is for Hunting, 2001, etc.) frequently presents stories that conceal a single shocking moment in the past from the reader, and frequently from the protagonist. This offering is one of the latter stripe, and the narrative follows Winter as she not-very-tactfully reasserts her control over her property and begins to plumb her past. Much of the tale reads like teen wish-fulfillment: Winter bullies the adults around her into letting her do what she wants, lives in her own house without supervision and with access to an apparently very large sum of money (which allows her to redecorate at some length), and discovers a handsome and charming boy at the ranch next door. For all that, Winter is an appealingly gutsy narrator who keeps the story moving as she rips up blackberries and insults everyone around her. If the eventual shocker is rather predictable (and therefore not so shocking) and easily discovered, Winter's own need to learn the truth and ability to assimilate it are well established in the development of her character. Not up to the standard set by the author's Letters from the Inside (1994), but likely to find a readership nevertheless. (Fiction. YA)