Trudy Adams
Trudy Adams is an award-winning Australian author, as well as a speaker and a community services worker. With a passion for writing about real-life issues faced by teenagers and young adults, Trudy has worked in the youth work, child protection, and family violence support sectors.
Born in the Hunter Valley, NSW, Trudy’s love for the power of words and stories began at a young age. She completed the draft of her award-winning debut novel, Desolate Beauty, at the age of 18, which went on to win 3rd prize in the Australian Christian Book of the Year Award in 2010. Since then, she has published several more novels, including The Sunshine List and Judging Meghan.
Through her writing, Trudy aims to positively impact the lives of young people and provide them with entertaining and meaningful stories that offer a roadmap for overcoming adversity, self-discovery, and finding one’s true identity. Trudy’s writing focuses on themes of hope, resilience, and redemption, with an emphasis on exploring the complexities of relationships and family dynamics. As a Christian, her faith is an integral part of her storytelling, and she aims to create Australian content in a genre often dominated by overseas books.
In addition to writing, Trudy also facilitates writing workshops at schools and works in the community services sector. She is a skilled musician, having studied the piano to grade 8 level, and currently lives in the Moorabool Shire in Victoria, Australia.
“What’s the country coming to? Losing our homes, our jobs, that’s one thing, but to lose our respect for each other, to stoop to this level to survive – it’s… it’s primitive!”
Meghan Manley is the middle child of five, and her family are quite content living on their farm in 1931 Australia. But when they are forced to leave and join hundreds of others on the road, looking for work, they are faced with both the best and worst of humanity.
At sixteen Meghan is not sure how to take this new life of desparation and uncertainty. Her friendships, beliefs and sense of self are tested, but nothing more so than her own character, pivoted on one of the hardest things of all – the need to forgive.
£11.99
“I must say, Caitlyn, I have heard from some of your other teachers that you haven’t been as attentive as you used to be, and that you’re missing more and more assignments. It’s not lack of skills, so why are you letting it get away from you?”
Spending more time in the deputy principal’s office was not what 14-year-old Caitlyn had in mind when she began Year 9 in her semi-arid Australian town. As far as she was concerned, life was perfect until her wayward cousin joined the household, her parents started fighting, her best friend turned into Public Enemy No. 1, and her mum started making her write to-do lists.
Surely growing up wasn’t meant to be this complicated. Now not only does Caitlyn have to navigate the unforgiving wilderness of school, but find a way to preserve the ties that are only just holding her family together.
£8.99
