Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey is a compelling coming-of-age novel set in the small Australian town of Corrigan during the late 1960s. The story follows thirteen-year-old Charlie Bucktin, whose life is upended when the town outcast, Jasper Jones, knocks on his window one night, seeking help.

A Gripping Mystery Unfolds

Jasper leads Charlie to a shocking discovery in the bush, thrusting him into a web of secrets and lies that challenge his understanding of right and wrong. As the town grapples with the disappearance of a local girl, Charlie must navigate the complexities of morality, justice, and friendship.

Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress. Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu.  And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.