Honour Book, Book of the Year Older Readers, Children's Book Council of the Year Awards 1997 Highly Commended, Family Award for Children's Literature 1997
Jenny rushes in; stops and turns pale at the sight of my scaffolded neck. This isn't what she expected to see - and for a moment Jenny, sunny, effervescent, ever-optimistic Jenny, stares at me and can't speak. 'They made a mistake - I broke my neck after all.' Jenny begins to cry. And I think that maybe this is what best friends are for, not to be brave for you, but to tell you this is real, and it stinks. Finding yourself in hospital, in a bed full of shattered glass, is traumatic. Coming to terms with probable long-term difficulties is something else again - slow, painful, full of obstacles and questions with no clear answers.
Anna is used to being athletic, popular, 'normal'. Now she feels the layers of her familiar self being peeled away; nothing is normal or easy. Can she pick up the pieces of her life? What part will Hayden and Luke play? And who, now, is Anna Duncan?