Tomorrow, When The War Began - John Marsden

Book 1 of the Tomorrow. While Ellie and her friends are away in the bush, the world changes. Suddenly they are in the toughest situations humans can confront, facing life and death decisions. They are thrown into a world where they find courage, initiative, spirit and wisdom ... or they die. The first of an enormously popular series that has been translated and published all over the world.

"The reader is unwittingly flung headlong and gasping into the plot ... the images created are so vivid that they stay with you long after the book is reluctantly closed on the final page." - Melbourne Herald-Sun.

The author combines a story of a WWIII invasion with a romance among several teenage couples. Narrator Suzi Dougherty's voice has the raspy scratch of a heavy smoker and the accent of the Australian bush. She assumes the part of Ellie, a precocious student knocking on the door of adulthood who discovers that her town has been taken over by an unknown military. At first, Dougherty's fast pace and Australian vocabulary of wombats, wallabies, and roustabouts may leave American listeners spinning, but with a little time she comes into focus. Her delivery of the dialogue of Ellie's mates differentiates them more by their unique attitudes than by distinctive voices. Her narrative style and the author's adroit descriptions create more entertainment than the thin plot. J.A.H.
AudioFile Magazine [Apr 08]

John Marsden’s Australian setting for a seven book series becomes a vivid backdrop for the first title available in audio format (Houghton, 1995). Read by Suzi Dougherty with teen-friendly voicing, the story moves from tense and gripping to philosophical by turns. Ellie, the narrator and resident of the rural ranching district surrounding Wirrawee, tells the story. She and her seven friends return from a camping trip to find their families captive, their homes destroyed or deserted, and their country invaded. Warned in a faxed message to “go bush,” they set up a base camp in Hell, a nearly inaccessible valley they have penetrated. Slightly reminiscent of Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien (Macmillan, 1987), which is mentioned in the story, Ellie is presented here as an inventive and admirable heroine. Conducting covert raids for information, supplies, and rescue missions, the friends ultimately progress to an actual guerilla attack on a key bridge along the enemy supply line. All the while, the friends muse on larger questions—the good and evil in people, their own loyalties, and potential romance as they draw together in the face of their experiences. The discussion of sexual feelings, while not at all graphic, makes this more suitable for high school age listeners. Dougherty’s narraiton is light-hearted, pensive, or fast-paced depending onthe mood. Her Australian accent offers a convincing touch that adds to the flavor of the story. Everything does not come out happily ever after in this compelling and thought-provoking novel, and listeners will be eager to read or listen to the other titles in the saga.
Jane P. Fenn, Corning-Painted Post West High School, NY [Aug 04]