Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

This is such a lovely and heartbreaking story of love, loss, family and friendship. It’s both heart-wrenching and uplifting and so captivating. It has one of the strongest and most beautiful friendships I’ve ever read about.

At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At fourteen, she ran away from boarding school, only to be tracked down and brought back by a mysterious stranger. Now seventeen, Taylor’s the reluctant leader of her school’s underground community, but her closest friend and mentor is Hannah, a woman who lives on the edge of the school grounds. When Hannah disappears Taylor’s search for her unveils a truth that might not just settle her past, but also change her future.

The story is told in two different timelines, the past via a manuscript that Taylor finds, and the present. It’s so well-written and planned in every little detail and so suspenseful in how it slowly reveals the connections between events in the past and present times. It’s a beautiful story about friendship, but it also deals with a lot of heavy topics such as violence, death, grief, loneliness and desire to belong, suicide and self-harm.

This book is so emotional and happy and sad at the same time. I had smiles and tears all over my face while reading it. It’s a book that made me suffer and that broke my heart, but it also made me so happy and I just loved every little thing about it! I cannot even try to explain how special and wonderful this book is, more than to say that I recommend it with all my heart!

Rating:
5 stars

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​Author info:
Melina Marchetta