What Now, Tilda B?

What Now, Tilda B?

A tender coming-of-age story from the award-winning author of The Spare Room.

Tilda Braint is nearly sixteen, or as her mum says, Fifteen and on the brink. On the brink of what? A rich and meaningful life? Disaster?

The one thing that Tilda is certain of is that she's restless and having trouble figuring out what on earth she's supposed to do next. How are you supposed to find yourself when you have no idea what you're even looking for? Living in a small coastal town doesn't help either. Everybody knows you,you're your business. Tilda has a boyfriend, Jamie. He's nice enough, but how long will he wait for Tilda to be 'ready'? It seems like a lose/lose deal to Tilda anyways; continue to hold off and she's a tease, give in and she's, well, what they all call her best friend Shell, and she doesn't want that.

With the arrival in town of Bella, a 'snob from Sydney', and an elephant seal and its pup who are clearly a long way from home, Tilda's world is upended. Everything that she held to be true begins to falter and with it new possibilities are revealed.

In her inimitable style, Kathryn Lomer crafts a beautiful story of the often turbulent transition from teen into young adulthood. With local bullies, decisions on her academic future, sex and its consequences, the complexities of friendship and so much more, What Now, Tilda B? will resonate with anyone who knows what I means to grow up.

"Kathryn Lomer's eye is both steady and compassionate - and what she notices are the small, aching ironies and epiphanies that so often escape our attention. As polished and precise as her award-winning poetry, her stories place us unerringly into the shoes of her characters, whose every frailty, doubt and small triumph is as familiar as our own." - Cate Kennedy- Author of Dark Roots.

Kathryn Lomer grew up on a farm in northwest Tasmania. She left school at fifteen and began the first of many and varied jobs in Tasmania and then overseas. She eventually went to university as a mature-age student, but never did do Grades 11 and 12. She became a teacher of English as a Second Language and taught for many years in Australia and Japan. Kathryn has published two collections of poetry: the second, Two Kinds of Silence, won the 2008 NSW Premier's Kenneth Slessor Prize. Her collection of short fiction, Camera Obscura, was shortlisted in the 2008 Queensland Premier's Steele Rudd Award. Her young adult novel, The Spare Room, was a 2004 CBCA Notable book.

What Now, Tilda B?
UQP
Author: Kathryn Lomer
ISBN: 9780702237782
Price: $19.95