By: Lauren Draper
Genre: YFS - School stories
Published by: Text Publishing
Published: 31 May 2022
ISBN: 9781922458537

Description

A humorous, beautifully observed YA novel about overcoming grief amid the vulnerability of high school relationships.


I didn't always live here. Not so long ago I was living in a thriving metropolis with more than one coffee shop on each block and four full bars of reception. I went to Heathmont High School, home to one thousand students, two best friends, a deeply average orchestra, and one cursed statue. Well, allegedly.


Reece still isn't used to living in the small beachside town of Hamilton - she misses her old school, her old friends and her old life. She can't go back and she can't move forward - nothing feels right anymore. Not that she's trying very hard - she hasn't even unpacked yet, and the only new friend she's made is a middle-aged barista.


But when Reece inherits a strange artefact that belonged to her beloved grandmother, she begins to unravel a mystery that might change the way she feels about everything around her, including her charismatic classmate Gideon…


A lively, witty novel about letting go of the past and finding your place in the world, The Museum of Broken Things introduces a dazzling new voice in contemporary fiction.


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Review

This debut novel is all about growing up and finding your place in the world.


At first, we don’t know why Reece and her family, her Mum, Dad and brother, have suddenly uprooted their lives in the city and moved to the small seaside town where Reece’s Grandma lived.


But we slowly discover the terrible thing that happened, that Reece blames herself for.


She starts to heal, when she finally makes new friends in Ava and her brother Miles. And things heat when her relationship with Gideon becomes serious…


But they all have their own challenges. Gideon is looking after his Mum, who has Parkinson’s Disease and is deteriorating quickly, at the expense of his own future. Miles is constantly trying to please others and do what is expected of him.


They discover that her Grandma, who was the town’s doctor, surgeon and hero, has left her collection of priceless books and medical artefacts to Reece. But Reece is unsure what to do with them and soon discovers a dark mystery involving the disappearance of young women years ago. Does her Grandma really have a sinister past?


This book is a true coming of age story, and a fabulous debut novel, that brims with hope and enthusiasm and is best suited to readers 14 and older.


Reviewed by Rob