the stars at oktober bend –Glenda Millard – CILIP Carnegie 2017 review

Our finial 2017 CILIP Carnegie review takes us to the wilds of rural outback Australia with ‘the stars at oktober bend’ Glenda Millard’s touching tale about two teenagers whose lives have been tainted by tragedy, as they endeavour to escape the past and take control of their futures.

Initially I found, the stars at oktober bend, disorientating, finding the setting difficult to place both in time as it could easily be any time from the 1950 to present, and where, again could be any backwater town, USA, UK, anywhere. Add to this the lack of any capitalised letters in the first half dozen chapters, and the whole reading experience was a leap of faith. Faith that author Glenda Millard would reveal all in her own time, and that you didn’t necessarily need all this information up front. Indeed the leap of faith was made easier due to the strength of the voice which is so strong and endearing that reading it is a pleasure even if you are not sure where or when the action is taking place.

the stars at oktober bend is told from duel perspectives, by two young people who live on the periphery of society and who are negotiating life’s usual hurdles plus the taller ones that the past has put before them.

The book is predominantly from the view of Alice Nightingale, in her sate of ‘forever twelveness’ with broken wiring, broken speech and debilitating fits. Unable to attend school Alice spends her days, tending her ailing grandmother, and in the company of her dog Bear, writing poetry that she displays all over town. Alice dreams of being more; more than forever twelve, more than the girl from the family plagued with tragedy and scandal, more than a victim. But in her small world, with only her grandmother, Bear and her younger brother who insulates and protects them from the outside, all hope to transcend the twelveness that was inflicted on her seems impossible. As Alice posts her ANON poems around town hoping someone will hear her words her dreams are answered when Manny the adopted son of a local couple finds them.

The other perspective in , the stars at oktober bend, is from Manny, who is a long way from his war torn home, haunted by secrets and struggling to get to grips to the nuances of another culture whilst slipping the grasp of bullies. As we watch Manny, desperately try and outrun his past and problems, he navigates towards the Nightingale family and Alice in particular.

As Alice and Manny find love and begin to heal, dark forces are at work trying to unsettle their happiness, when flood water brings a deluge of destruction threatening to wash away their dreams for a future, and a foe with a vindictive thirst for revenge wades in.

the stars at oktober bend, is a beautiful and emotionally challenging book, recommended for older readers. It tackles the difficult subjects of war, murder, rape and torture, whilst challenging the labels of ‘victim’ and ‘migrant’ showing that people are more than the box others put them in. It is a brave book tackling subjects that are often shied away from in literature for teenagers, yet deals with the subject in a responsible and respectful manner, making it an empathetic and endearing read.

I believe that the stars at oktober bend is not only a book that promotes empathy, braking boxes and ripping down labels, but also like many of tales, has an element of warning. A message to young people to the danger in the world. A wolf in the woods for the twenty first century.