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Hannah, an esteemed businessman’s spoilt daughter, is raised in a large house in London. She lacks for nothing, except for activities. Only her tutor Thomas Behr brings some change to her dull everyday life. When Hannah’s beloved father is accused of murder and fraud, he disappears and leaves the 14-year-old girl to fend for herself. Thomas offers help but is disdainfully rejected. But will Hannah be able to survive on her own? Her life is quickly turned upside down when she finds herself in New-Gate Prison for her father’s bad reputation and a crime she did not commit. She has to face her sentence: transportation to Australia. On the long and difficult journey she learns much about hard work, humiliation and hunger, but also about love and friendship. The most striking feature of the novel is the “story within the story” that introduces each chapter: “Once upon a time there was a girl called Scatterheart...” This girl seems to come right from a fairy tale, but the story tells about Hannah herself. Scatterheart continues the theme of the main narrative: the search for one’s true love. Lili Wilkinson, born 1981 in Australia, is not new to youth literature business. She works at the Centre for Youth Literature in the State Library of Victoria and is the daughter of award-winning authoress Carole Wilkinson (Dragonkeeper). Her long term experience can now be seen in her first love novel about pride, prejudice, friendship and truth. Lili Wilkinson |
