"The Tomorrow Series" by John Marsden

As a Canadian married to an Australian, I often have the good luck to come across films and books popular Down Under that are hard to find here. One such find was the young adult fiction series "The Tomorrow Series" by John Marsden.

Aussie teen, Ellie and her friends leave home one quiet morning, heading up into the hills for camping trip. Their lives are turned upside down when Australia is invaded during their absence. Through a series of seven powerfully realistic books, you come to know and love the characters as they face the moral and physical challenges of survival and confronting the enemy that stole their land.

While the characters engage in underground warfare, you are never left with a Hollywood-esque sense of the "heroes" bravado. Instead, they struggle with every decision to fight or flee, to kill or be killed. They even consider and acknowledge their nations failure in foreign policy. Neither are they protected from the realities of war, with beloved characters falling along the way.

I was actually surprised that this series is rated for young adults, so mature is the content and issues explored. I am even more surprised that this series hasn't found its way to the best seller list here in North America. It is well worth the work to find and read these great works of Aussie fiction. Check out these and more books by John Marsden at www.johnmarsden.com.

P.S. Marsden has also just started his new series called "The Ellie Chronicles" a post-war follow up that promises to be equally exciting.