Greylands by Isobelle Carmody

Ford Street Publishing, 2012, 189 pgs., p/b. ISBN: 9781921665677.
Recommended for readers 12+. In 1997, Greylands won the Aurealis Award Winner for Best Young Adult novel. This 2012 revised edition with a foreword from the author is a moving and memorable story. The story is told from Jack's point of view, and like Carmody's father who died tragically in a car accident, Jack's mother also recently died in tragic circumstances. When Jack looks into a mirror, he enters into the greylands, which is a dreamlike world lacking in colour and noise and has ferocious animals called wolvers that hunt Jack when he crosses. What is this grey silent land that Jack discovers on the other side of his mirror and why does Jack keep bumping into Alice, a strange girl with a secret who tells Jack she belongs in the greylands. It is Alice who also tells Jack it is the wounded that seek refuge in the greylands. Jack soon realises that he enters the greylands due to his state of grief and it is his thoughts of his mother that moves him to the greylands. Will Jack be able to deal with his fears and find answers to his questions in order to escape the greylands before the terrifying wolvers find him, or will he become trapped in the greylands forever like Alice?
Carmody, who is also the best-selling author of the award winning Obernewtyn chronicles has written a powerful story about a young boy dealing with tragedy and emotions. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn the secret that Alice guards so furtively?
Michelle Thomson