Aussie YA: older main characters (Kirsty Eagar Week)

One of the things I LOVED about Kirsty Eagar's Raw Blue is that the characters are older than the average YA book. Carly is 19, graduated high school and dropped out of uni. Ryan (gosh-I-love-him) is 27.

As an older reader of YA I am drawn to the older end of the YA spectrum. I am a huge advocate for an emerging New Adult market (which YA publishers are traditionally not keen on)

In my cosy bubble of readerly-writerly friends (who have mostly finished high school) I see the same craving for coming-of-age stories that feature out-of-school-aged characters.

The YA scene has always had it's own little groove going on down here in Australia and, surprisingly, it is not at all hard to find Aussie YA books that slice right into the New Adult market.

Today ~ I am featuring just a handful of Aussie YA novels which feature older protagonists and are riding the older YA vibe. These are [only] contemporary YA (often YA fantasy and other genres have an older vibe anyway, due to being set in entirely different worlds)

I hope you can find a good Aussie YA recommendations in here :)

[all links go to goodreads for more info]

Good Oil. While Amelia (sweet, fiesty, yearning Amelia) is only 15, Chris is a gorgeous 21 year old. Half the book is in his POV ~ and it's brilliant ~ some 21 year old male angst, he yearns for different things, has a past teen-perspective and brilliantly captures those days of wanting more of the world and feeling at odds with how to get there.

This is in my top fave YA books of all time

Finding Grace by Allyssa Brugman. Oh how I truly love this gorgeous book. Rachel has graduated high school, is working, left home and starting uni. It's a quirky, mesmerising and unexpectedly emotional read about one girl facing the beginning of life out in the real world.

One of my long time favourite reads

When You Wake and find Me Gone by Maureen McCarthy
Kit is 20 years old, loving uni until she has an unexpected trip to Ireland... So much fun, travelling to Ireland and there's some awesome IRA conflict and a (cute) Irish boy.

 I devoured this the first time I read it <3 ~ and was stoked to find a copy at my second hand book shop a few years ago. Planning a re-read [soon]

[Maureen McCarthy also has other books which easily slide into an older YA scene]

Fireflies by Jonathan Harlen
I love this book. Funny and sexy (!) and a little bit crazy. Brilliant male POV set in Sydney ~ John Berryman has left school, writes radio comedy and irreverently pursues Johanna ~ daughter of the American Ambaddassor.


 It is also one of my all-time faves. I am crazily nostalgic for it.

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
When I first heard of this stand-alone companion novel to Saving Francesca I was insanely excited. Visiting the gang but 5 years in the future? Where they are all 21? = Perfection. I LOVE this idea. And of course, half the story here also belongs to Georgie (in her 40's). While The Piper's Son does not see to fall into the constraints of traditional YA it is booming in the YA market down here (nominated for many YA awards)

Another book contending for a spot in my top ten all-time faves :)

I am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
Haha, this book is truly funny and exceptionally noteworthy. Ed and his gang of mates are all finished school and in various states of uni/work/hanging out-ness. Perfectly captures that feeling of being "out in the real world" and still trying to figure out what you're meant to be doing in it.

This book also has one of my fave first chapters. Ever. [I also loan my copy out to non-YA-reading adults all the time.]

Circles of Stone by Pamela Rushby
Lea (20 years old) takes a year break from university to back-pack with friends. While in Scotland, she is at the discovery of a 2000 year old body in a peat bog O.o. I LOVE bog stories, and this one is not all-the-way contemporary as their is a time travelly-vibe going on. Still ~ made of win.

The Byron Journals by Daniel DuCrou
Matthew and his mates are in their first year out of high school ~ partying at Byron Bay in a gap year scenario. This is one fantastically absorbing and beautifully written book featuring off-beat music, girls, drugs and it cracks open a world much bigger than high school.

Occasionally this was too edgy for me (in terms of sexual content, druggy-drugs) but it perfectly captured experimentation and getting caught up in something much bigger than yourself. The tension built brilliantly as well.

Give it a go if you love alternative funky beach-y music-y books, with a wild background ~ and don't mind mature (!) content. I personally am a fan of the whole gap-year scene :)

Black Painted Fingernails by Steven Herrick
Black Painted Fingernails made it through to the 2011 Gold inky's shortlist (announced yesterday). It's 2 main characters are well out of school, one a teacher in training and the other a hitchhiker finding her way. It also features the POV of the parents splattered throughout the pages. It's firmly in the new adult category.

It is not my favourite Herrick but it was still a very funky, insightful road tripping book.

Something in the World Called Love by Sue Saliba
This is a gorgeous and gentle unconventionally written book (no capital letters, interesting punctuation) that is set in Melbourne ~ Esma has moved to begin her first year at uni and is flatting with new friends ...

Poetic and unusual, I took me a little to get into it, but by then end I truly appreciated it.

Broken Glass by Adrian Stirling
Danny is 21 and the return of an old high school mate in their small country town stirs up memories from a sinister high school event. It is a highly emotive and evocative book, creating a setting for Aussie country towns similar to what Lucy Christopher did for our desert in 'Stolen'

It's gritty and tense and powerfully written, I really enjoyed this debut.

Suburban Freak Show by Julia Lawrinson
Jay is in her first year of uni ~ an not everything is going according to plan. This book is cynical and deliciously quirky in parts.

[More on Julia below]

Julia Lawrinson also wrote 'The Push' another YA novel featuring older protags (in their 20's and above) set in the 50's ~ the girls in this book are working, talking marriage, sexing it up and figuring out life in their own way.

Julia Lawrinson is a fantastic YA author with such strong cross-over appeal. Highly recommended.

I cannot have a post about older Aussie YA without mentioning  Sonya Hartnett (link to all the books I have read by her). Her YA books really defy genre-casting (they excel in the YA section, but are really for all ages). I could profile nearly her entire catalogue here but have selected three books that fit the contemporary mold the best with characters out of high school.

'All My Dangerous Friends' is a first year at uni book. Wilful Blue is set at an artists retreat (one of my long-time faves) and 'The Devil Latch' is more thriller-vibe ~ Kitten (our male protag) is early twenties, gorgeous and a smidgen mesmerising (in a sinister way). 

So ~ once I got started I realised I really could think of a lot more out-of-school-age Aussie YA protags. Especially if I decided to widen the parameters to protags who are nearly 18 but have left school ~ such as the awesome No Worries by Bill Condon (high school drop-out, working story, very good) or the dual narrative Halfway To Good  by Kirsten Murphy which has the POV of a first year out teacher, and the POV of her student in his final year of high school (LOVE Kirsten Murphy).

I think traditionally (gauging from the abundance of New Adult-type books that have been published over the years) Australian publishers run with all kinds of books for young adults and the age of the protagonist is of less concern to the actual story being told. I have LOVED growing up reading some of these books as a teen ~ reading about characters at uni or n their early twenties, written for teenagers. It perfectly bridges the gap between YA and the adult market.

I hope you've liked me chatting up some of my fave older Aussie YA books

Have you read any of these?

Got any recommendations (books I haven't mentioned)?

Would you like to see more YA books in the New Adult age bracket?

Also ~ don't forget to enter for your chance to win RAW BLUE by Kirsty Eagar ~ one of my all-time fave Aussie YA books featuring 19 year old Carly and 26 year old Ryan <3


* of course, this is not an exhaustive list, only books I have personally read that immediately came to mind.