Wildlife by Fiona Wood

JUDGES' COMMENTS

Wildlife is a tightly written, refreshingly unsentimental, yet achingly beautiful contemporary young adult novel. Set in an Australian wilderness education camp the cloistered environment provides both obstacles and opportunity to explore two coming-of-age stories. The dual narrative structure switches between the first-person perspective of 16-year-old Sibylla and the journal entries of Lou, a character from Wood’s earlier book, Six Impossible Things. There is a complex interplay between the shy, introspective Sibylla thrust into learning about first love, friendship and self-acceptance and the deeply private Lou, mired in an inertia of grief, yet ultimately finding the courage to reconnect.

The realistic portrayal of genuine, intelligent female characters learning to survive in the wild is inspiring, as is Wood’s unflinching decision to explore female sex and sexuality. Acknowledging that not only beautiful, at times sex is also awkward and embarrassing Wildlife challenges social stereotyping of female choices, rights and agency. The young adult reader will be empowered by the fact that sexual ‘normality’ is now all-inclusive. The writing is both lyrical yet raw and astute, allowing the reader to negotiate themes that span from love and friendships to grief and not fitting in, amid the confines of self-acceptance and self-image.