Paper Alice

by Charlotte Calder

"It was in the Metro section of the Saturday paper – one of those 'what people are wearing in the street'-type segments, featuring a photo of the person and a paragraph underneath describing what she (it was always a girl) had chosen to put on that day. There I was, Alice Macbean, looking like the typical uni student. Fair hair springing around my face, sunnies stretched across wide cheekbones, smiling my having-a-good time smile for the camera.

Except it wasn't me."

Alice thinks she's got it pretty good. Other than her first year at uni being a bit stressful, her boyfriend Dunc being a bit difficult, and her best friend Milly being a bit impulsive, she can't complain.

But when an unfamiliar picture of herself appears in the paper, everything starts to change. Soon, Alice is under a spotlight mistaken for the strangely named Wilda. Every time she tries to set the record straight, she gets sidetracked – especially when the charming and funny Andy is around.

Just who and where is the mysterious Wilda? But, more importantly, if she finds her doppelgänger, will Alice learn a lot more about herself than she is willing to know?

Genres: Young Adult

269 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Charlotte Calder lives near Orange in the Central West of NSW with her husband. They have three adult children. The rest of the family consists of two dogs (including Arlo, the inspiration for The 12th Dog, a cat and two beautiful ex-race horses, saved from the knackery.

Her latest picture book The 12th Dog illustrated by Tom Jellett, was published by Hachette in January 2017. It's 'a perfect celebration of the joy of backyard cricket and the hilarity of owning a dog.'

Charlotte was born in Adelaide and grew up in the Adelaide Hills and Darwin, the setting of her first novel Settling Storms, published in 2000. She later lived in Sydney for many years, the background for Cupid Painted Blind (2002) and Paper Alice (2008). Surviving Amber (2005)'s location contains hints of Kangaroo Island, where she spent just about every summer holiday for the first thirty five years of her life. KI is also the (real) background for her junior adventure novel, The Ghost at the Point, set in 1931. Her picture book Stuck!, illustrated by Mark Jackson, was re-released in Jan 2012 was a Notable Book in the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards 2011, and was shortlisted in the Speech Pathology of the Year Awards 2011.

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Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really, really cliched and predictable. I managed to guess every major event of the novel within chapter one, and by chapter three had all my predictions down pat. By about three quarters through, the only interest I held in the story was finding out if I was right (which I was).

I felt like there were too many side stories happening constantly, which was almost hard to keep up with at times, but overall the story arch was, as I said, predictable and boring.

I gave this book three stars - two for the story and a bonus mark for the writing quality. But if half stars were an option, it definitely would have only rated a 2.5

[Celia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a young adults book - about a Uni student who spots her double in the newspaper. It's an interesting set up, but it doesn't really go anywhere - it feels pretty flat at the end, and I lost interest.

[Vanessa Hayes · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel had an interesting concept which enticed me to read it in the first place.

However, I felt like the was a lot of time spent on the context (e.g., describing people, locations etc.) rather than the action itself.

The ending felt rushed and was a bit far-fetched for my liking.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably the first non-fantasy book I read, and considering its not my favorite genre, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did - I would recommend this book, it's witty and quirky - a good light read :)

[Tess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this book I felt as though it was meant for young teens as well as young adults which confuses me because the main character is in uni right? I dunno whether it's just me but I felt that the book was a bit young. Despite this, overall it was a pretty good book.