Mallee Boys

By: Charlie Archbold

Write A Review

eBook | 28 November 2017 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

ePUB
216 Pages

Age
12+

eBook

RRP $14.99

$12.09

19%OFF

or 4 interest-free payments of $3.02 with

Instant Digital Delivery to your Kobo Reader App

Winner of the 2016 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award
Honour Book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers Award

Sometimes I feel like I'm neither one thing nor another. I live in the Mallee but I don't like the desert. I live on a farm but I get hay fever and I'm scared of goats. I like school but my best mates don't. I'm stuck between stuff. It's like I'm not meant to be here but I am.

Sandy Douglas knows that life at fifteen is hard, but it's even harder when your mother died a year ago and nothing's gone right since. His brother Red, on the other hand, is eighteen now and working the farm. He's amped up on rage and always looking for a fight. And then there's their dad Tom. He does his best, but - really - he doesn't have a clue.

As Sandy and Red deal with girls, dirt biking, footy and friendship, both boys have to work out who they want to be, without their mum around. The Mallee, where they live, may seem like the middle of nowhere, but it turns out this is going to be one hell of a year.

About the Author

Charlie Archbold was born in London. She completed a degree in drama before training as a teacher and has worked as an educator for twenty-five years. She recently completed a Master of Education in Studies of Asia. After travelling extensively she settled in Australia and lives with her family in Adelaide. Mallee Boys is her first novel.

Industry Reviews

'A well-paced and ultimately suspenseful tale full of convincing and engaging characters.'
Katharine England, Advertiser

'Only a teacher/writer like Charlie Archbold could produce a book like this. Those among us who have taught in country towns as young teachers will recognise the character types and the sorts of activities that young kids get up to. Archbold’s teaching under the skies in the bush provides the authenticity that her tale of the Mallee Boys must have.'
Ian Lipke, Queensland Reviewers Collective

'A story of love, mateship, growing up in the country and chasing your dreams. While a YA book, it's engaging for adults, who will be transported back to those awkward teenage years and may find it's hard to fight back that lump in the throat at the climactic end. A hidden gem.'
Shelley Hadfield, Herald Sun

'Charlie Archibold ... explores masculinity with great perceptiveness and verisimilitude. It's a novel that teenage boys will recognise themselves in - a feat difficult for any writer to achieve.'
Cameron Woodhead, Age/Sydney Morning Herald