Written by Melina Marchetta (Penguin Australia)

March 1st, 2010 in Australia

Thomas Mackee wants oblivion. Wants to forget parents who leave and friends he used to care about and a string of one-night stands, and favourite uncles being blown to smithereens on their way to work on the other side of the world.

But when his flatmates turn him out of the house, Tom moves in with his single, pregnant aunt, Georgie. And starts working at the Union pub with his former friends. And winds up living with his grieving father again. And remembers how he abandoned Tara Finke two years ago, after his uncle's death.

And in a year when everything's broken, Tom realises that his family and friends need him to help put the pieces back together as much as he needs them.

Tease: For someone who was a basket case the first six months they knew her, she [Francesca] turned out to be the most resilient and coordinates the rest of the girls with an efficiency born of a hidden fascist gene. 'She's Mussolini's bastard child,' he once confided to Jimmy Hailler, the only other male in their group at the time.

YOU WANT TO READ THIS BOOK. If you loved Saving Francesca, this is a must. If you haven't read Saving Francesca, it doesn't matter...it's still a must! Order online through Australian bookstores because it probably won't be released in the US until 2011/2012.