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Tyenna (Through my Eyes)
An engaging and suspenseful novel about one girl's experience of the terrifying Tasmanian bushfires.
They huddle low, nostrils burning from the smoke. A wave of despair flows over Tye. Nothing will survive this firestorm. The bush and everything she loves will be lost.
It's the summer holidays, and Tye is staying at her grandparents' lodge at Chancy's Point in Tasmania's beautiful Central Highlands. But her plans for fun with best friend Lily and working on her pencil pine conservation project are thwarted as fire threatens the community and the bush she loves - and when Tye discovers Bailey, a runaway boy hiding out, she is torn between secretly helping him and her loyalty to her grandparents.
As the fire comes closer and evacuation warnings abound, Tye is caught up in the battle of her life. Will she and Bailey survive? What will happen to her beloved pencil pines and the wildlife at risk? Can she and her close-knit community make a difference in a world threatened by climate change?
They huddle low, nostrils burning from the smoke. A wave of despair flows over Tye. Nothing will survive this firestorm. The bush and everything she loves will be lost.
It's the summer holidays, and Tye is staying at her grandparents' lodge at Chancy's Point in Tasmania's beautiful Central Highlands. But her plans for fun with best friend Lily and working on her pencil pine conservation project are thwarted as fire threatens the community and the bush she loves - and when Tye discovers Bailey, a runaway boy hiding out, she is torn between secretly helping him and her loyalty to her grandparents.
As the fire comes closer and evacuation warnings abound, Tye is caught up in the battle of her life. Will she and Bailey survive? What will happen to her beloved pencil pines and the wildlife at risk? Can she and her close-knit community make a difference in a world threatened by climate change?
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2022
5 people want to read
About the author
Julie Hunt
16 books10 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Julie Hunt has written poetry and performed with the Kazakstan Kowgerls. When she wrote Little Else: Trick Rider, she discovered that one book didn’t have enough room for this daring little heroine who left home with just a lucky horseshoe nail and the ability to talk to horses.
Julie Hunt has written poetry and performed with the Kazakstan Kowgerls. When she wrote Little Else: Trick Rider, she discovered that one book didn’t have enough room for this daring little heroine who left home with just a lucky horseshoe nail and the ability to talk to horses.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 13, 2022
Read for bookclub.
Great characters, dramatic plot, authentic messages.
Great characters, dramatic plot, authentic messages.
June 27, 2022
Read for PRC
Part of the 'Through my Eyes : Australian Disaster Zones', this novel tells the story of Tyenna, visiting her grandparents in the Tasmanian Highlands in the summer of 2019. All Tye's plans are interrupted by the threat of bushfires and everything that comes with the danger of unpredicatable fires.
Part of the 'Through my Eyes : Australian Disaster Zones', this novel tells the story of Tyenna, visiting her grandparents in the Tasmanian Highlands in the summer of 2019. All Tye's plans are interrupted by the threat of bushfires and everything that comes with the danger of unpredicatable fires.
March 13, 2022
Tyenna (Tye) loves to spend her summer holidays with her grandparents in the Central Highlands of Tasmania – away from busy Melbourne, her chaotic and self-centred mother Opal, and Jas, her second, and more thoughtful, Mum. This summer is particularly hot and dry lightning brings the threat of fire to the tinder dry landscape. On arrival, the local community of Merrick and her grandparents at their boarding lodge at Chancy Point are preparing against the threat of fire and Tye has to forestall her holiday plans and trips into the wild, especially her favourite pencil pine forest in the Great Western Tiers. Best friend Lily and she are busy supporting Lily’s mum in feeding the numerous native animals brought in for care, along with long-time resident at the lodge, old-timer Lance, who is increasingly forgetful. Unexpectedly, she runs into Bailey, a boy on the run and in hiding and reluctantly promises to help him and not tell others of his presence in the area.
And then fire shifts from a threat to a reality and everything changes.
Tye, a 13 year old with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility, is a memorable, likeable protagonist dealing with challenges in her family life and a moral dilemma to work through. The various threads of this story – family, friendship, responsibility, caring for the environment and living through a serious and life threatening fire and its aftermath, are woven into a realistic and contemporary tale that will engage independent readers to show how adversity can strengthen us and that resilience can help us to actively work towards a more positive future. Tyenna is recommended for 11 to 14 year old readers and is a worthy addition to the contemporary realistic genre representing the now all too familiar issues in surviving natural disasters that many of your young people are grappling with.
Tyenna is written with a strong sense of place – the wild, rugged and isolated regions of inland Tasmanian are evocatively captured along with an array of down to earth, and equally rugged characters, typical of those that live in and love the area around the Great Lakes and central Tasmania. A love of the land, and respect for the original Aboriginal owners permeates the story and includes acknowledgement of traditional land management practices with fire.
And then fire shifts from a threat to a reality and everything changes.
Tye, a 13 year old with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility, is a memorable, likeable protagonist dealing with challenges in her family life and a moral dilemma to work through. The various threads of this story – family, friendship, responsibility, caring for the environment and living through a serious and life threatening fire and its aftermath, are woven into a realistic and contemporary tale that will engage independent readers to show how adversity can strengthen us and that resilience can help us to actively work towards a more positive future. Tyenna is recommended for 11 to 14 year old readers and is a worthy addition to the contemporary realistic genre representing the now all too familiar issues in surviving natural disasters that many of your young people are grappling with.
Tyenna is written with a strong sense of place – the wild, rugged and isolated regions of inland Tasmanian are evocatively captured along with an array of down to earth, and equally rugged characters, typical of those that live in and love the area around the Great Lakes and central Tasmania. A love of the land, and respect for the original Aboriginal owners permeates the story and includes acknowledgement of traditional land management practices with fire.
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March 24, 2022This is a suspenseful, exciting story set in a beautiful part of Tasmania during a dangerous bushfire season. It weaves concerns about climate change and threatened species into a storyline that readers of the targeted age group, 11-14, will enjoy and relate to. The setting is beautifully written and adult readers, like me, will also enjoy it.
March 9, 2022
This is part of the series Through My Eyes Australian Disaster Zones.
This story is inspire by the bushfires that occurred in the Central Highlands of Tasmania in 2019.
Started by lightning strikes over 200000 hectares or 3% of Tasmania was burnt in the 2018-2019 fire season.
The community spirit that something like this brings about was described very well , we learn a lot about the plans that need to be in place and also what we as a community can do to lower the risks of such events.
The story of Tyenna, her friends, family and how they survive through this challenging time is a really good read and a reminder that life can change very quickly and with little notice.
This was a well written, thought provoking and enjoyable story about how nature is so unpredictable and the strength of a close nice community.
This story is inspire by the bushfires that occurred in the Central Highlands of Tasmania in 2019.
Started by lightning strikes over 200000 hectares or 3% of Tasmania was burnt in the 2018-2019 fire season.
The community spirit that something like this brings about was described very well , we learn a lot about the plans that need to be in place and also what we as a community can do to lower the risks of such events.
The story of Tyenna, her friends, family and how they survive through this challenging time is a really good read and a reminder that life can change very quickly and with little notice.
This was a well written, thought provoking and enjoyable story about how nature is so unpredictable and the strength of a close nice community.
October 2, 2023
Trigger warnings: Animal death, fire
6/10, I was hoping that I would enjoy this novel much like I enjoyed Green Rising by Lauren James which is a flawed but overall enjoyable story however I did not enjoy this one since there was only a single shred of hope at the end and most of the book was a depressing slog which was difficult to read. It begins with Tyenna living in Tasmania with her two mothers and a few pages into the action starts when she hears about the bushfires developing on the news, it steadily grows more suspenseful and harrowing as they get closer however I couldn't care for her or Bailey when he was introduced as they weren't well written and didn't develop their character in any way. As the bushfires intensify Tyenna and Bailey are left stuck in the town as almost everything burns to the ground and some animals are killed yet somehow they survive all of it and are left mostly unscathed as the fire planes extinguish the flames of what appears to be the most devastating bushfire in Tasmania's history. I'm glad it's all fictional otherwise it would've been a reminder of climate change that'd hit too close to home. In the end, there was a bit of hope as the book shows the town recovering from the fires and the trees resiliently growing back. That wasn't enough to stop this book from becoming disheartening and sometimes I enjoy sad novels but only when there's something to balance it however this is not the case here. If you like stories about environmental disasters pick this but other better ones are out there that you can try.
6/10, I was hoping that I would enjoy this novel much like I enjoyed Green Rising by Lauren James which is a flawed but overall enjoyable story however I did not enjoy this one since there was only a single shred of hope at the end and most of the book was a depressing slog which was difficult to read. It begins with Tyenna living in Tasmania with her two mothers and a few pages into the action starts when she hears about the bushfires developing on the news, it steadily grows more suspenseful and harrowing as they get closer however I couldn't care for her or Bailey when he was introduced as they weren't well written and didn't develop their character in any way. As the bushfires intensify Tyenna and Bailey are left stuck in the town as almost everything burns to the ground and some animals are killed yet somehow they survive all of it and are left mostly unscathed as the fire planes extinguish the flames of what appears to be the most devastating bushfire in Tasmania's history. I'm glad it's all fictional otherwise it would've been a reminder of climate change that'd hit too close to home. In the end, there was a bit of hope as the book shows the town recovering from the fires and the trees resiliently growing back. That wasn't enough to stop this book from becoming disheartening and sometimes I enjoy sad novels but only when there's something to balance it however this is not the case here. If you like stories about environmental disasters pick this but other better ones are out there that you can try.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews