Kāpiti College Library

Notes

Theres someone in the school. Someone whos not supposed to be there. This person is walking towards the classroom. Theyre holding something in their hands. Something terrifying.
Sam lives with his mum, dad and four brothers in a small farming town. At his school, there are three main factions: the rich kids, the mid-grounders and the farm kids who live on the outskirts. Sam is a comfortable mid-grounder and life is pretty good. He works as a lifeguard at the local surf club, is saving to buy his first car, hes training with his friends for the Ironman challenge, and on Sunday afternoons he and his family take care packages to their less fortunate neighbours. Then, five years since they last spoke, Emily Burrow climbs back into Sams life and everything changes.
Emilys life is very different to Sams her absent father has returned and her mum struggles with her mental health. Sam does his best to be there for Emily when he wasnt for so long, but there seems to be no right way to help her.
When Rei starts at school, Sam is smitten. Reis parents are social workers, shes from the rich side of town, and her life seems a thousand miles away from how the kids on the outskirts live. In a world thats ill-equipped to support kids struggling with unseen burdens, is there a way to help Emily before the worst happens?
From the bestselling author of I Had Such Friends comes a novel thats gritty, full of heart and shines a light on kids who are doing it tough in a rural Australian town.