Books with author Judith Clay

From a multi-award-winning author comes a magnificent and deeply moving story about two girls, a life-long friendship, and the heart’s search for the real true thingThe path of Ruth's life was shaped in one fateful moment when, as a baby, she miraculously survived the car accident that killed her mother. Her grandmother raised her with the fierce conviction that Ruth be free to meet the world on her own terms, and not be stuck in the small life of their country town. This wise, compassionate, beautifully written book weaves together the stories of Ruth, her grandmother Margaret May, Ruth's lifelong friend Fee, and Ruth's troubled foster child Dancey Tremaine. From Ruth's coming of age in a country town and the defining influence of her grandmother, to the consequences of Fee's youthful marriage and motherhood, to a troubled contemporary child looking for love, this book enables us to appreciate the beauty of life and connection with others.

Clementine thinks her cousin Fan is everything that she could never be: beautiful, imaginative, wild. The girls promise to be best friends and sisters after the summer is over, but Clementine's life in the city is different from Fan's life in dusty Lake Conapaira. And Fan is looking for something, though neither she nor Clementine understands what it is. Printz Honor Winner Judith Clarke delivers a compassionate, compelling novel with the story of a friendship between two young women, and of the small tragedies that tear them apart from each other, and from themselves.

Kenny is fourteen. His dad has just died, and to keep the family together, Kenny must find work. "Be careful going through the flatlands," his mother warns him. "Don't stop for anyone." But Kenny does stop, and what happens next will define the man he becomes. This collection of six stories set in Australia spans seventy years. Defining moments in each character's story exhibit the human will to press on even during vulnerable times. With supple, evocative prose and compelling characters, Wolf on the Fold examines those critical moments of collision between adolescence and the adult world. Judith Clarke captures the essence of people's lives, whatever their time in history or their social background.

"Frankie believed in Heaven quite literally, as if it was another lovely world out past the stars. And when he spoke the word "love," it seemed to spring free and fly into the air like a beautiful balloon you wanted to run after. But I couldn't tell my parents about Frankie, not properly. I told them I'd made friends with the boy in the room next to mine, and how he'd come from this little town out west. I couldn't tell them how he was becoming the best thing in my world. I couldn't tell anyone, I hardly admitted it to myself." In the 1950s, "entering" the seminary was for ever, and young boys were gathered into the priesthood before they were old enough to know what they would lose. Tom went to St. Finbar's because he was looking for something more than the ordinary happiness of his home and school. But then he discovered that being able to love another person was the most important thing of all. For Tom, loving Frankie made him part of the world. Even when Frankie was gone . . .

All she thought of was the boy with the skateboard ... Sheep and shepherds, little new lambs ... Why? Neema and her best friend, Kate, are freshmen at Wentworth High. In English class they have the notorious Ms. "Bride of Dracula" Dallimore for a teacher. "Learn to fly!" she urges her students. But what are they supposed to write for their essay, "Who Am I?" At home, Neema's great-grandmother, Kalpana, has come for an extended visit all the way to Australia from India. At night she dreams of flying; during the day she cooks Indian food and watches the same Indian video again and again. It should be great having her there, but Neema doesn't speak Hindi, Kalpana doesn't speak English, and Neema's mother can't always be there to translate. Meanwhile, Gull Oliver, the good-looking new boy at school, seems familiar to Neema. At night he flies past her house on his skateboard. Both Neema and Kalpana watch him, drawn to him for different reasons. This rich story weaves realism and fantasy into an unusual portrayal of coming together and finding the essence of who you are.

Despite his heroic efforts to be cool, Al Capsella faces a crippling pair of obstacles: his mother and father. They're not just uncool, but a complete embarrassment. Along with schoolmates like Louis, also fourteen, Al has his own plans for surviving the abnormal antics of parents, grandparents and teachers. But Al discovers that being really normal is the weirdest thing of all.

Jess was happy when her family lived by the bay, but something is wrong with their new house. Since her family moved, her sister Vida has become wild and furious and believes in all kinds of strange magic. The children begin to suspect there's a ghost in the house. Jess's brother Clem says that he can see her. Too preoccupied and jumpy, he hasn't even unpacked. Their mother is lying sick in her bedroom upstairs and refuses to talk or come out, which is getting on Jess's nerves. The ghost is definitely starting to appear to Jess -- a fast blur in the corner of her eye, the swish of invisible legs keeping step with her own, the skin-crawling feeling that someone is watching. Who is this ghost and with whom does she want to communicate?

In 1935 Kenny is fourteen. It's the Great Depression and he's off to find work. If he doesn't find a job they might split up the family and send his sister away. In 1959 Kenny's daughter Frances is seven. She stays awake at night praying to keep everyone she knows safe. And, then in 1991 she's living in Jerusalem, on her own, with a jewish child, in the middle of the Gulf War. In 1975 Kanti and Raj live in the same street as Kenny's family. Raj is always fighting. Their neighbours say that the curry he eats that heats his blood. But they don't know anything. They don't know about where Kanti and Raj came from, why they are living above a milkbar when they used to have a big house with a verandah, or about the little sister who used to wear red ribbons in her hair. Life is never what you expect, and nor is this collection of sensitive stories about generation gaps, persecution and new beginnings.

Daz is in love with Valentine O'Leary, the biggest pig in Mimosa High School. Her brother William is in love with a girl he's never spoken to. Eleanor Wand, the music teacher, is in love with the headmaster. Everyone is in love with someone - and doing rather badly. Meanwhile Daz's granny is searching for Bonnie, the long-ago friend of her heart. Will anyone be successful in the quest for lost friends and true love