'Tomorrow When the War Began' - ABC television adaptation of John Marsden's series

Tomorrow When The War Began, Series 1 Ep 1:  

Celebrating end of year, Ellie takes her friends on a trip to a remote destination called 'Hell'. They return home to find their parents are missing, the phone network down and homes ransacked.
 

The first book in John Marsden’s ‘Tomorrow’ series, ‘Tomorrow When The War Began’ was first published in 1993. It became one of the most popular young adult series in Australia, concluding in 1999 with seven books in the core series, followed by a spin-off trilogy called ‘The Ellie Chronicles’ which ran from 2003-05. The series is a fictionalized account of an invasion of Australia by unknown (but usually vaguely Asia-Pacific) foreign forces, and the microcosm of a small town called Wirrawee and a group of local kids who are camping in the bush when their town is overrun with enemy combatants, and upon their return they decide to fight back against the invasion.

The first book of the series was turned into a highly successful Australia film in 2010 – starring Caitlin Stasey as protagonist Ellie Linton – and it ranks number 17 on the most successful Australia box office films of all time, thus far. After the success of the 2010 film fans eagerly awaited a sequel – certain that the film’s popularity would guarantee a franchise. And while there was a nebulous promise that the story would continue, it was never clear if that would be as film or TV series (and when the likes of Caitlin Stasey and Phoebe Tonkin from the 2010 film went onto great success in Hollywood, Australian fans were pretty certain the original cast wouldn’t be reassembled).

Then it was announced last year that ‘Tomorrow When The War Began’ (affectionately abbreviated and hashtagged to #TWTWB) would be coming to our small screens on ABC TV! This was huge news, extremely well-received. You really can’t underestimate what a beloved book series Marsden’s TWTWB is – becoming a staple of every Aussie teenager’s reading life. And it’s a series worth celebrating across generations – a series about teenagers taking matters into their own hands and fighting back, surviving on their wits, cunning and each other. It’s also a very nuanced series; with themes of man vs. nature, the morality of war and survival, and so much more.

TWTWB re-launching as a TV series at this point in time feels extremely appropriate, as refugee and asylum seeker debates rage in Australia and our Government seems to lack any comprehension of what has been happening (and is still at crisis-point) in places like Syria.

Watching the first episode of TWTWB, I’m reminded of this quote that’s been borne out of the refugee crisis – Just because it’s not happening here, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Echoed in this stunning British ad, which imagines war breaking out in the UK. This was another strength of Marsden’s TWTWB series – to ask one of the biggest what if’s? of young Australia readers. What if we were invaded? What if your family was locked up? What if you had to pick up a gun and fight back?

The first episode of TWTWB has brilliant duality to set-up the entire first installment of the book series. There’s a very clear before/after being introduced in this first episode as we see the core cast of seven pack up their camping gear and get ready for a trip into ‘Hell’ – a beautiful, secluded section of bushland. Their town of Wirrawee is celebrating a state fair with all the dressings, and they wave goodbye to the euphoric town as they take the track that leads them into the wilderness, for five-days of escape. But upon their return, Wirrawee is completely changed to a dark, barbed, battle-ground, and the end of this first episode does cover a pivotal moment for Ellie (Molly Daniels), when she is forced to defend herself and her friends.

It may seem like this first episode covers a lot of the first book’s content – but there’s plenty more to come in this six-part miniseries (and I’m not sure how deep into the book series the TV show will even cover, but I hope we get more seasons!). Aside from the eerie set-up of war (and there are some beautiful scenes, setting up the devastation) the characterisation in this first ep is spot-on. We very succinctly get the closeness and fractures beginning to show in relationship of best friends Ellie and Corrie (played, refreshingly by Madeleine Madden – who is also Zoe Preston in ABC3’s other brilliant series, Ready For This). Town larrikin Homer (Narek Arman) and posh new girl, Fiona (Madeleine Clunies-Ross) have nice push-pull chemistry. Fi’s parents (lovely to see Sibylla Budd as her mum, I’ve liked her since The Secret Life of Us!) are written to be a little closer to the political action it seems, and the hostile family environment is a clever touch. Robyn (Fantine Banulski) clearly has an unreciprocated crush on Lee (Jon Prasida) – and the fact that all this character chemistry is oh so subtly communicated in the first 46-minute episode is quite an impressive feat.

This is a fantastic start to a much-loved Aussie series. I got goosebumps just watching the brilliant opening-titles sequence, to be honest (and I was reminded that before Veronica Roth’s post-apocalyptic Chicago ferris wheel in Divergent, Aussie readers had the iconic Wirrawee wheel, a leftover relic of the fairground before the war began!). 

I also can’t help but think that re-franchising TWTWB as a TV series is a smart move – not least because other book-to-film franchises (okay, American ones – but still!) have been experiencing fatigue around multi-installments. It’s also not insane to think that other popular YA series enjoying success right now (again, American, but stick with me!) like The 100 – about a group of kids all alone without adult supervision and up against enemy combatants – that it’s a good idea to give Aussie teens their own version of this compelling survival story. I’ve long been asking where all the great YA TV adaptations are, and I’m thrilled that we now have ‘Tomorrow When the War Began’. It’s such a layered, subversive and complex book series – and from the looks of episode one that’s all going to translate beautifully to the small screen.

 ♦♦♦

You can watch 'Tomorrow When the War Began' episodes on ABC iView 

The series airs on Saturday's at 7:30pm

Official Website 

'Winter' by John Marsden

From the BLURB:

For twelve years Winter has been haunted. Her past, her memories, her feelings, will not leave her alone. And now, at sixteen, the time has come for her to act. She must head back to her old home, where a pair of family tragedies forever altered her life. What she discovers is powerful and shocking -- but must be dealt with in order for life to go on.

Winter was four years old when her mother and father died; drowned in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. Now sixteen, Winter is coming home to Warriewood – it’s the first time she’s been back since becoming a ward of the state, cared for by her parent’s trust-fund and waiting to inherit the property when she turns eighteen. 

In the meantime Warriewood is being managed by Ralph and Sylvia – a couple Winter doesn’t entirely trust, who have let her old homestead go to ruin while they suck the Warriewood property dry. 

But upon her return home, Winter finds that the past is not quite ready to be put to rest. She has questions; about her mother’s death, the distant relatives she never knew she had and the shadowy memories that come flooding back. 

‘Winter’ was the 2000 stand-alone novel from one of Australia’s most beloved young adult writers, John Marsden.

I've been feeling a bit nostalgic for the young adult novels of my actual young adulthood. I’m from a very lucky generation who grew up with the YA genre, so was never lacking in reading options throughout my teenage years. And as an Australian, I really had a superior reading list to choose from – among the first YA novels I read were those by Melina Marchetta, Nick Earls, Margo Lanagan, Jaclyn Moriarty and the wonderful John Marsden. It’s a testament to these fine Australian young adult writers that they’ve stood the test of time (teen-time, no less!) and are still widely read and published today. And being that I’m a complete bibliophile, I don’t throw books away – ever. So I have a few ‘vintage’ Aussie YA novels, if you will. I was perusing my bookcase and John Marsden’s ‘Winter’ stood out for me. 

I remember reading ‘Winter’ when I was younger (about 12 or so) but the story was hazy for me. Whereas other Marsden books stick out prominently in my mind (‘Checkers’, in particular for that ohmygod curveball ending) ‘Winter’ was bringing up a bit of a blank, beyond remembering that I really loved it. So I thought it warranted a revisit and, honestly, I so enjoyed re-reading that I think I might have to do more retro re-reads of my favourite early YA books.

The book opens with a prickly introduction to Winter De Salis, as we meet her returning home after twelve years away. Winter is rude and combative to Sylvia and Ralph, the seemingly nice caretakers of her parent’s old estate. By her own admission, Winter doesn’t do well with impulse or anger control and we see that in the first few chapters. It’s an interesting introduction which instantly puts readers on the back-foot, thinking this is a nasty young woman with a chip on her shoulders. But, that’s part of the beauty of this novel in which nothing is as it seems.

As the story unravels we learn of Winter’s tragic past – an orphan by the age of four, living in boarding schools and waiting for the day she turns eighteen and can become her own woman and accept full responsibility for Warriewood. In the meantime, and at the age of sixteen, Winter is coming home to put persistent demons to rest – to know what really happened to her mother, and to confront the dark, unfocused memories of her childhood;
 

I didn’t want to look any more, didn’t want to see the terrible sight. I ran and ran and ran, down the long tormenting white drive of my memory, down the long black bitumen road of terror, and at last, as I reached Warriewood, between the stone gateposts of my childhood. 

It’s only when Winter starts opening herself up to the past that she starts accepting the future and living in the present. She does so by crushing on Warriewood neighbour, Matthew Kennedy, and befriending local girl Jessica McGill.

‘Winter’ is a quiet novel, as many of Marsden’s books tend to be. Marsden really does excel at lulling readers, and writing sleight of hands that distract us from the monumental wallop we’re going to be dealt before the final page. This is also true of ‘Winter’, which has a dark climax and explanation for Winter’s haunting memories. That’s part of the beauty of a Marsden novel – he sneaks up on the reader and leaves you with big questions to mull over once all is said and done. I especially like that he does leave the reader with questions – he’s not a fan of writing definitive answers or wringing out character’s responses. Part of the fun and gravity is that he leaves readers to make up their own minds and decide what they’d do if put into a similar situation. 

Again, as with most Marsden novels, ‘Winter’ is relatively short – a mere 135 pages. He doesn’t need much more than that though; Marsden always starts stories from the meatiest part – in ‘Winter’ he certainly could have started earlier, even with a prologue of Winter’s four-year-old self. But there’s something very satisfying about a book that starts at the highest point of action, when all the balls are in the air for the character and readers meet them at the most important moment of their lives.

‘Winter’ was as satisfying a read the second time round as it was the first. Thankfully for me, I forgot the sneaky curveball denouement and was given the opportunity to read the jaw-drop all over again. This book reminds me why Marsden is one of the Aussie greats, and makes me thankful that I had such a good young adult reading foundation growing up. 

5/5

John Marsden - author talk and Twitter re-cap

Hello Darling Readers!

I've just come back from a fantastic author talk and signing with John Marsden, organized by the wonderful Narre Warren library as part of celebrations for the ‘National Year of Reading’!

John Marsden has been a favourite author of mine, ever since I first read ‘Checkers’ and had my reading landscape irrevocably altered by his tough and damaged characters. The second book I read of his was ‘Letters from the Inside’ which was a complete punch to the gut but I knew he was something very special for young adult readers – because he didn’t talk down to us or shy away from the tough stuff and he revelled in writing messy, imperfect characters. And then I read his epic ‘Tomorrow’ series and he cemented his status as an all-time favourite author for me.

His author talk at Narre Warren was completely and utterly fabulous. He only spoke for a little over an hour, but in that time he covered the mechanics of writing and language, entertained the audience with personal anecdotes and gave us a small glimpse into what he surely must have been like as a marvellous English teacher, and now as Principal of the alternative school, Candelbark.

Mr Marsden made some brilliantly insightful comments, particularly about letting children speak for themselves – he recited several instances where he came across parents who acted as spokespeople for their children, not letting them get a word in edgeways or, worse yet, berating them when they did try to speak but added an unintentional ‘um’ or ‘like’ into the sentence. It was in this discussion that I saw why it is that John Marsden doesn’t ‘write down’ to his audience – because he hates that in real life, he very much carries that belief over to his books when he lets his child characters be their own heroes, and it’s no wonder so many of his books feature an absence of (reliable) adults. He seems to have a great deal of respect and admiration for young people and ‘letting kids be kids’.

It was a packed house at the Narre Warren Civic Centre, and looking around I was immensely pleased to see fans of all ages and genders turning out to hear Mr Marsden speak. There were many teachers/librarians in the audience, an even mix of girls and boys, plenty of younger children who were only just discovering his books, and ‘big kids’ (like me!) who have been reading him for yonks and clearly still hold his books close to our hearts.

A really big thank you to Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation for putting on this fabulous author event, and to the ‘National Year of Reading’ for general awesomeness.

Below is my Twitter-recap of the event.