Drift

Drift, a free verse novel by Pip Harry, is next on my list of CBCA Notables -- this one didn't make it to the short list, but I ended up enjoying it very much. Nate has just moved back to Australia from Singapore; girl next door Luna is struggling after becoming the victim of a viral video. Nate's dad is still in Singapore, and his mum Amber is almost incapacitated by a back injury. When a swarm of bees invade the walls of Amber and Nate's house, it opens up a new world of beekeeping to Nate and Luna, and enables community bonds to form.

This is a gentle story, despite the violence of Luna's history, filled with tentative connections and slow unfurling. Luna's salvation is running; Nate makes friends with the musical theatre kids. And of course, their developing friendship becomes a source of strength. Traditionally I haven't been a huge fan of verse novels, but Drift (still not quite sure what the title refers to, but it does capture the atmosphere of the book) won me over -- it's so warm and tender, and it was lovely to come back into the world of bees and beekeeping (my first fantasy novel, The Singer of All Songs, had bees in it, and I had to do lots of research).