During a Melbourne heatwave, Hannah’s family life begins to distort beyond her deepest fears. It’s going to take more than a cool change to fix it, but how can a girl who lives in the shadows take on the task alone?
Feeling powerless and invisible, Hannah seeks refuge in the two anarchists of her life: her wild best friend, Chloe, and her eccentric grandmother, Essie, who look like they know how life really works.
But Hannah’s loyalty to both is tested, first by her attraction to Chloe’s older brother, and then by Essie’s devastating secret that sheds new light on how the family has lost its way.
Even if Hannah doesn’t know what to believe in, she’d better start believing in herself.
Combined with Hannah’s contemporary story, at the heart of Steal My Sunshine is the revelation of a shameful aspect of Australia’s history and how it affected thousands of girls and women – the forced adoptions that saw ‘wayward girls’ and single mothers forced to give up their babies by churches and hospitals. The practice endured for decades, and only now are the numbers and the heart-wrenching stories coming to light.‘As Hannah tries to sort out the present – enigmatic best friend, dream boy, fractured family – it is a long-held secret of her grandmother’s that will show the way forward. A tender, heart-wrenching story.’ – Fiona Wood, author of
Six Impossible Things
