The Goodbye Year

A thoughtful and gentle middle-grade novel about the excitement and apprehension of life on the cusp of change at the end of primary school

It's the start of 2020 and Harper is filled with anticipation about being in the final year of Riverlark Primary. She wants a leadership role, the comfort of her friendship group, and to fly under the radar of Riverlark's mean-boy.

But one by one things go wrong. When Harper's best friends are made school captains they are consumed by their roles, while her own role - library captain - is considered second-rate. Then something major throws life off course- her parents take overseas jobs as nurses in a war zone. Harper moves in with Lolly, a grandmother she barely knows - and her five pets, vast collection of old trinkets and very different expectations.

Just as Harper is getting used to Lolly, the pandemic arrives, and her goodbye year is nothing like she'd hoped it would be. Strange things are happening- she wakes in the night in odd places, fixates on an old army badge that seems to have a mind of its own, and on a visit to the school library during lockdown she's convinced she's seen a ghost.