SOLVED. YA book, MC's best friend's name is Janey who has dreads and is neglected by her family [s]

[Chantal]

I have been trying to find the name of a contemporary YA fiction book I read over 10 years ago. It was published before 2005 and is likely to have had a late 90s or early 00s release. It may have been set in Australia.

The MC is a teenager (around 15/16+) and comes from a small but supportive family. Her closest friend, however is called Janey (or Janie) and is of a similar age but is a bit more of a free-spirit. Janey wears her hair in dreads and comes from a large, male-dominated family, who neglect her. Janey half-jokingly says to the MC that her mum stopped feeding her as soon as she started bringing her breasts to the dinner table.

I think Janey has been made homeless by her family's neglect, although she does visit the MC's home at least once in the book and is made to feel welcome. Instead Janey may have turned to prostitution to support herself; she does have no-strings-attached sexual relationships in the story. There is one part of the book where she is having sex with a guy in the back of a car/truck (may have been red) whilst the MC sits on the bonnet and looks up at the stars. I vaguely remember something about a scrapyard/junkyard or something where Janey lives or this took place.

Janey possibly grows up being abused by one of her eldest brothers and may even haven been killed by him in the end. I'm fairly certain she dies towards the end of the book, and the MC feels as if life has been too cruel to her friend.

Unfortunately I can't remember anything about the author and my searches haven't been successful.

[SBC]

It's Touching Earth Lightly by Australian author, Margo Lanagan :)

[Chantal]

That's the one! Thank you so much.