Somewhere out there Ellie and her friends are hiding. They're shocked, they're frightened, they're alone. Their world has changed, with the speed of a slamming door.



They've got no weapons - except courage. They've got no help - except themsleves. They've got nothing - except friendship.



How strong can you be, when the world is full of people trying to kill you?



Ellie and Corrie are just about to start their last year of high school. In the summer holidays, they decide to camp out for a week or so with their friends, and try to reach Hell. According to the old-timers, only one person has ever made it into Hell, a place that's surrounded by towering cliffs. He was a man who murdered his wife and child, before fleeing to the bush and becoming a hermit.



Ellie, Corrie, Homer, Lee, Fi, Robyn and Kevin manage to find a track into Hell. There they find a beautifully crafted bridge, which leads them across the stream and to a clearing. It's perfectly hidden, and when they hike back up for more supplies, they can't see their camp at all.



A week later, they return to find their homes deserted. The power's cut. Dogs are dead on chains. Houses stink of rotten food. Nobody can be found.



After a daring trip into town, they conclude that Australia has been invaded.



All their choices about life are narrowed down to two: give up, or fight?

There's a real sense of reality to this book and, indeed, the rest of the series. While the scenario might sound way out there, Marsden manages to make you believe that this is what's happening. Give it to any other writer and they'll produce a story where Homer's a boy scout, Lee's an Aboriginal who knows all about bush tucker, Ellie's the favourite daughter of an army general who's taught her all about war and tactics... But that's not the way it is. These are real people with real personalities, real ideas and real faults.

At first, I didn't like the way the book jolted me out of the comfort zone we all create for ourselves. Australians like to see our country as different. Wars happen in other places. And yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realised we're not the fortress we see ourselves as, especially when you look at our neighbours - countries with millions and millions of people, most of them starving and suffering - and what they must see when they look over the fence.



That, obviously, eventually turned into a positive.

I cried myself to sleep the night I finished it. And then I began the second one in the series, "The Dead of the Night", early the next morning.

My parents gave me the entire "Tomorrow" series for Christmas in 1999. By New Year's Day I'd read all seven books - and they're pretty long, too: 300 pages on average, small type. For six days I read all the time, breaking only for meals - I couldn't put them down. Each night I was exhausted, even though I'd been sitting down all day. It was the emotional rollercoaster the books took me on - from rage to terror to despair to ecstacy...



I got a little bear that Christmas too. The tag called her Penelope, which I went along with in the beginning. But when I was introduced to Alvin, Ellie's teddy, I renamed her Allie. Alvin was Ellie's confident, and Allie became mine. I talked to her as though it was the characters I was talking to, as though they were there with me. That was how real they'd become.

John Marsden is Australia's leading author of teen fiction. His work has been translated and published all over the world. This book was voted one of Austrtalia's favourites, behind 'Lord of the Rings' and ahead of the Bible.



I've met John, at one of the writing camps he runs on his bushland property in Victoria, on the Tye Estate. He's an amazing writer, teacher and person.

I read these books when I was 11, moving between primary and high school. To me, these are the books that grabbed me from my childhood and pulled me into teenhood. Sure, I was probably at the stage when I was ready for that anyway, but I suppose this is what symbolises it for me.



The "Tomorrow" series is not just a story about war. Perhaps even more so, it's a story about relationships and discovering who you are. Marsden is a teen author, but those aren't just teens' issues.



This is a human story.

Tomorrow, When the War Began is often referred to by its publishers as, "The book that became the series that became the legend."



Six further novels continue the Tomorrow story. Some move along at a "Hold onto your seat!" pace; others are darker and more thoughtful. But none can be separated for their quality. All shall capture your very being:



The Dead of the Night – "When you've run out of choices, you've only got yourself. As war rages, as the enemy closes in, as Ellie and her friends fight for their lives, they are left with nothing. Nothing but courage, spirit and pride."



The Third Day, The Frost (known in the United States as A Killing Frost) – "The third day comes a frost - a killing frost. The enemy spreads across the land, cold and relentless. They invade. They destroy. They kill. Only the heroism of Ellie and her friends can stop them. When hot courage meets icy death, who will win through?"



Darkness, Be My Friend – "You're running from bullets through the streets of your own town. Your life's on the line and no-one's there to help. What's happened? When did safety turn to fear, peace turn to war, happiness turn to panic? When did your normal life become a nightmare?"



Burning For Revenge – "You look behind – there's nothing but smoke. Ahead of you there future has just burst into flames. Your life is on fire. The world's an inferno. You're burning… with passion and fear, with love and rage. You're burning for revenge."



The Night is for Hunting – "Hunting and being hunted. Sometimes life seems to offer nothing more than a chase to the death. The fight to survive has never been fiercer. But as they wage war, Ellie and her friends still find times for other things: friendship… loyalty… even Christmas. If only they can withstand another night."



The Other Side of Dawn – "'Daylight couldn't be far away, and if they hadn't found me by then, it wouldn't take long once the sun came up. The drops of blood would be a dead give-away. 'Dead' in every sense of the word.'"

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Created Jan 20, 2003 at 6:26pm • Submit your own review...