Three families feature, which offer strong cultural contrasts. The Kyriagos are Greek Cypriot Australians. Their daughter, Effi, is 16 years of age. They live in Sydney’s western suburbs. The Smith family features Katie and Matt, cousins, both champion ocean swimmers from South Sydney. The Anastapoulis family features Christie, a 16-year-old Greek Australian, who lives and breathes rap and rhyme. Effi and Christie both live in Western Sydney, and they are immigrants from Greece. Parental and cultural expectations differ and occasionally create tension. Each year Effi and her family return to the beach where her younger brother drowned. Occasionally the parents’ perspectives feature when personal events in their lives are important to their teenage children. There are friendships and budding romance. An underlying theme is racism with a brief insight into the historic Cronulla Riots. Strong relationships abound throughout, and the budding romance is handled with intensity and believability. Young adult readers will experience many of these emotional highs and lows in this verse novel with a large cast of interesting characters.
NCACL Cultural Diversity Database