This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.Mandy answers an ad for a pen pal and she starts to exchange letters with Tracey.
For almost a year these two girls find out about themselves and each other.
Tracey is in prison (we are never told why) and Mandy is afraid of her brother who beats her whenever he can ... that is the first time Mandy felt she could tell anyone
Mandy goes to parties and meets boys and tracey plays in the prison softball team - Tracey is now determined to get an education and be a better person since she has learnt to Mandy answers an ad for a pen pal and she starts to exchange letters with Tracey.
For almost a year these two girls find out about themselves and each other.
Tracey is in prison (we are never told why) and Mandy is afraid of her brother who beats her whenever he can ... that is the first time Mandy felt she could tell anyone
Mandy goes to parties and meets boys and tracey plays in the prison softball team - Tracey is now determined to get an education and be a better person since she has learnt to trust Mandy and enjoy their freindship. She writes a story and wins a competition and she is so excited..
the ending is so sad
Mandy and her mum send Tracey a parcel for Christmas
Tracey send a letter thanking her - then she has a nightmare involving blood and guns and knives and she wakes screaming and writes about it in the next letter..... still no reply she writes again .... then her mail is return with "not known at this address"...
She spirals into depression and the nightmares continue.... she writes one last letter and the reader is left wondering if Tracey will actually make it....
John Marsden at his best he is able to generate a lot of empathy for the two main characters and the way he details the brothers' slide from a morose emo into a dangerous psychotic who is filled with rage is realistic and scary. The reader is left to fill in the blanks. Did Simon kill his entire family? Will Tracey get her life back together?
