The road to adulthood

Having grown up with Melina Marchetta’s novels myself (I read Looking for Alibrandi during my teens), I’m always interested in her new work.

Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca were bestsellers, and I have no doubt On the Jellicoe Road will be too, with it’s picturesque country setting, haunting flashbacks and angsty teen romances.

Taylor Markham is seventeen, lives as a boarder at the Jellicoe school in rural New South Wales, can’t remember much of her father and was left on the side of the road by her mother at age 10.

Rescued and raised by Hannah, who lives on the outskirts of the school grounds, Taylor has groomed by her peers and teachers to be a role model for the other students. Now she’s a house captain, with responsibilities and power – but is rather apathetic to both. A role Taylor does relish however, is the Jellicoe school representative on the Secret Underground Club. Elected by her predecessors in an unpopular vote, Taylor must lead her troops in the yearly territory ‘war’ against the local Townies and the visiting army Cadets on the property surrounding the school.

The war is a decades old tradition, but this year it will be different. Taylor’s rivals are Jonah Griggs, a boy from her tumultuous past, and Santagelo, who has obvious history with her best friend Raffaella. The war has never been so complicated.

Like Marchetta’s other young adult novels, On the Jellicoe Road is an exploration of relationships and family traditions. Taylor is transforming from a troubled teenager to an independent young woman, and struggling with the truth of her past.

Running parallel with Taylor’s story is a tale that of five friends who lived in the local area nearly twenty years earlier, told in segments as a shuffled manuscript written by Hannah, Taylor’s guardian. Their connections to the present situation slowly become evident, and readers will give themselves a headache trying to identify who fits in where before the stories start to echo each other.

Marchetta’s writing style is evolving into something more complex with each novel, and this book shows the first signs of a real mystery element to her story.

While the central characters of her books are largely similar, Taylor is more mature but also more troubled than previously. The male characters in On the Jellicoe Road are also more developed, and this story will likely appeal to teenage boys as well as Marchetta’s already strong female following.

Still, the themes and relationships are very believable, and will resonate with hundreds of young people all over Australia, and indeed the world.

On the Jellicoe Road is a relatively quick read, with a good paced plot and some intriguing twists. Excellent school holiday or summer reading for all teenagers.

Belinda Yench

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On the Jellicoe Road

Author: Melinda Marchetta
Publisher: Viking
Price: $24.95

Read Melina Marchetta's own words on writing, reading, and growing up.