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Unpacking Harper Holt
An emotional debut novel about love, loss, fitting in and finding a place to call home.
Harper Holt’s close-knit family is always moving. All she wants is to have a normal, quiet life – in one place. But when she experiences a devastating loss, she realises that her future will never be the way she imagined it. She will have to find a support system and a strength she never knew she had to overcome her grief and redefine herself.
This is a heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful story about the way one unexpected moment can change your world.
Harper Holt’s close-knit family is always moving. All she wants is to have a normal, quiet life – in one place. But when she experiences a devastating loss, she realises that her future will never be the way she imagined it. She will have to find a support system and a strength she never knew she had to overcome her grief and redefine herself.
This is a heartbreaking but ultimately hopeful story about the way one unexpected moment can change your world.
- GenresFamily
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2018
4 people are currently reading
59 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 25, 2020
Unpacking Harper Holt was a really good book about Harper who moves house a lot and never has a place to call home so she calls the houses she lives in 'the house'.
When they move again, she is at the house by her self and someone comes to the door and changes her life...
(so dramatic. but just read it please it is AMAZING!!!)
When they move again, she is at the house by her self and someone comes to the door and changes her life...
(so dramatic. but just read it please it is AMAZING!!!)
May 28, 2020
This is just about the sadest book I have ever read but also its so amazing. I get very emotionaly attatched to book characters so this was just mean, I love it. I cant remember the last time I read a book that had me sobbing this hard. Thank you Di, for sharing your insane talent with us lower humans.
December 8, 2019
I loved this book by Australian author Di Walker and would give it 4.5 stars if I could.
June 30, 2020
I absolutely loved this book, it's so sad but happy at the same time, and I couldn't put it down. I love this author!
April 10, 2020
This book!!
By heart laughed and cried and broke over and over again!
I still have a lump in my throat!
Full of grief, friendship, love and family upheaval. This book is not for the faint hearted, or one who is sensitive to grief.
By heart laughed and cried and broke over and over again!
I still have a lump in my throat!
Full of grief, friendship, love and family upheaval. This book is not for the faint hearted, or one who is sensitive to grief.
May 9, 2019
Actually 4 1/2 stars
June 2, 2019
Ok. Bit too sickly sweet and nicey nicey.
December 28, 2022
The story of a teenage girl, an only child, and her living and lived parents. Her world changes when her mother is killed in a car accident. How can she go on?
June 23, 2023
Great read. Focuses on teenage grief and loss among dealing with ‘usual’ teenager issues.
October 19, 2024
A beautiful book about grief from the perspective of a teenager and the love of a community.
February 7, 2019
What happens when your life doesn’t look the way you imagined it? Many of us face this challenge at some point during our lives - something unexpected happens and alters us, changes our view on life and what we do within it in a way that can never be undone, even if we want it to be.
Teenager Harper Holt has just moved to Melbourne, Australia, with her father Hugh and mother Helena. Harper has been warned, they’ll only be there for six months max. The Holts move so often that Harper never fully unpacks her belongings and cannot call any house her home. She is sick of always being the new girl at school, sick of leaving friends behind and having to make new ones, she just wants to stay in one place long enough to call it home. It has always just been the three of them as a unit, with their special bond, their jobs within that unit, and their weekly habits to tie them all together. But then something unimaginable happens and Harper Holt’s life will never be the same again, even though she wishes it could be.
Di Walker’s debut ‘Unpacking Harper Holt’ is a Y A novel that explores the effects of grief, bullying and feeling lonely, even when you’re in a crowded place. Written as a novel for teens, complete with listed internet resources for dealing with bullying and grief, I was also struck by the feelings this work brought out in myself as an adult. Grief and loneliness is a personalised thing, everyone experiences it differently, but Di Walker manages to include everyone in the experience, to the point that the book reminded me of my own losses and experience of a world and viewpoint forever altered by something beyond my control. This novel explores the desire to control your own experience, the want to change things back to the way you used to know it, and the reality of there being no way back.
I recommend this novel for anyone going through a tough time, for anyone needing help in finding sunshine again. ‘Unpacking Harper Holt’ provides a vision of what is possible in dealing with life-altering circumstances, how one can accept what life has dealt them and move forward into a new way of life. It shows how friendships and connection with others can help to heal the wounds of grief and bullying.This book is perfect for that teenager in your life who needs help and reassurance. It is also a good read. In the future I could see this book becoming part of a school’s curriculum to help all students understand what lies behind bullying and also the potential effect of grief on fellow students as well as oneself. This isn’t something I’d normally pick up to read, but I’ve found it very therapeutic and highly recommend it.
Teenager Harper Holt has just moved to Melbourne, Australia, with her father Hugh and mother Helena. Harper has been warned, they’ll only be there for six months max. The Holts move so often that Harper never fully unpacks her belongings and cannot call any house her home. She is sick of always being the new girl at school, sick of leaving friends behind and having to make new ones, she just wants to stay in one place long enough to call it home. It has always just been the three of them as a unit, with their special bond, their jobs within that unit, and their weekly habits to tie them all together. But then something unimaginable happens and Harper Holt’s life will never be the same again, even though she wishes it could be.
Di Walker’s debut ‘Unpacking Harper Holt’ is a Y A novel that explores the effects of grief, bullying and feeling lonely, even when you’re in a crowded place. Written as a novel for teens, complete with listed internet resources for dealing with bullying and grief, I was also struck by the feelings this work brought out in myself as an adult. Grief and loneliness is a personalised thing, everyone experiences it differently, but Di Walker manages to include everyone in the experience, to the point that the book reminded me of my own losses and experience of a world and viewpoint forever altered by something beyond my control. This novel explores the desire to control your own experience, the want to change things back to the way you used to know it, and the reality of there being no way back.
I recommend this novel for anyone going through a tough time, for anyone needing help in finding sunshine again. ‘Unpacking Harper Holt’ provides a vision of what is possible in dealing with life-altering circumstances, how one can accept what life has dealt them and move forward into a new way of life. It shows how friendships and connection with others can help to heal the wounds of grief and bullying.This book is perfect for that teenager in your life who needs help and reassurance. It is also a good read. In the future I could see this book becoming part of a school’s curriculum to help all students understand what lies behind bullying and also the potential effect of grief on fellow students as well as oneself. This isn’t something I’d normally pick up to read, but I’ve found it very therapeutic and highly recommend it.
September 15, 2018
Age - 11+
Harper is on the move again. Every six months or even less, Harper's father's work takes them to a different place. When she was younger, her parent's catch-cry of New place-New adventure was exciting, but now Harper is at high school, moving no longer has the same appeal.
Even with her mum's amazing skills at settling them in - finding a new favourite coffee spot, sorting out the best school, and tracking down the local dance studio, Harper is already reminding herself that they won't be there for long, so it doesn't matter anyway.
Harper wants her life to change, but when it is tipped upside down, she would do absolutely anything to have it back how it used to be.
Harper is an authentic character, living a different kind of life. This was instantly appealing as I wondered where the story would take me. I felt for Harper as she was now wanting to make some real friends, those she could keep and enjoy. Her frustration soon turns to grief and then anger throughout the novel, trying to keep herself strong. I love the cover too!
Believable. Heartbreaking.
(Moving, Dance, New School, Bullying, Bully, Friendship, Grief, Loss, Change, Realism)
Harper is on the move again. Every six months or even less, Harper's father's work takes them to a different place. When she was younger, her parent's catch-cry of New place-New adventure was exciting, but now Harper is at high school, moving no longer has the same appeal.
Even with her mum's amazing skills at settling them in - finding a new favourite coffee spot, sorting out the best school, and tracking down the local dance studio, Harper is already reminding herself that they won't be there for long, so it doesn't matter anyway.
Harper wants her life to change, but when it is tipped upside down, she would do absolutely anything to have it back how it used to be.
Harper is an authentic character, living a different kind of life. This was instantly appealing as I wondered where the story would take me. I felt for Harper as she was now wanting to make some real friends, those she could keep and enjoy. Her frustration soon turns to grief and then anger throughout the novel, trying to keep herself strong. I love the cover too!
Believable. Heartbreaking.
(Moving, Dance, New School, Bullying, Bully, Friendship, Grief, Loss, Change, Realism)
August 25, 2018
First off, I want to start by saying how much I loved this book and how much it means to me. The book was written by one of my past teachers, Ms. Walker. I had always known that she had amazing skills in English and writing and this book demonstrated just that. Unpacking Harper Holt is a book that grips the reader, reeling them in with every word. I loved the language that was used. The dialogues were cleverly crafted and descriptions completed the book beautifully. When I was reading the book, I truly felt like Harper, I could place her emotions, both those of hers and of the other characters'. When I finished reading this book I felt a strong emotion that I soon recalled. You know when you've read a good book when it feels a little like you've lost a good friend. That's exactly what it felt like. An amazing book, written by an amazing author.
October 6, 2018
A heartbreaking journey through one girl's yearning for setting down roots, devastated by the loss of one of the parts that makes her whole. A close up observation of the experience of unexpected grief, finding your place in the world and realising that life can and does go on despite enormous loss.
June 22, 2018
I cried almost all the way through.
August 15, 2018
LOVED the story, how she handled the bullying and grief! Didn't want it to end....
September 19, 2018
I loved this book so much! it has such depth and emotion, and has inspired me to keep writing my own stories. Thankyou Miss Walker, your debut novel is amazing!
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews