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Dust
Twelve-year-old Cecilia Maria was named after saints and martyrs to give her something to live up to.
"Over my dead body," she vows.
In the blinding heat of 1970s Queensland, she battles six brothers on her side of the fence, and the despised Kapernicky girls, lurking on the other side of the barbed wire.
Secrets are buried deep, only to surface decades later when Cecilia drags her own reluctant teenagers back home to dance on a grave and track down some ghosts.
Warm but tough-minded, "Dust" glitters with a rare and subtle wit, illuminating the shadows that hang over from childhood and finding beauty in unexpected places.
"Over my dead body," she vows.
In the blinding heat of 1970s Queensland, she battles six brothers on her side of the fence, and the despised Kapernicky girls, lurking on the other side of the barbed wire.
Secrets are buried deep, only to surface decades later when Cecilia drags her own reluctant teenagers back home to dance on a grave and track down some ghosts.
Warm but tough-minded, "Dust" glitters with a rare and subtle wit, illuminating the shadows that hang over from childhood and finding beauty in unexpected places.
- GenresYoung Adult
First published July 1, 2009
2 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Christine Bongers
4 books57 followersChristine Bongers is a former radio and television journalist who is now happier writing fiction.
Christine's latest YA novel "Intruder" won the 2015 Davitt Award for Best Debut Crime Book and was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. Her debut novel "Dust" is a CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers and was Highly Commended in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Children's Fiction. Her middle-grade novel "Henry Hoey Hobson" was short-listed for the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, the Qld Premier's Literary Awards and the WA Premier's Book Awards. "Drongoes" for newly independent readers is published by Scholastic.
She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, kids, and a very bad beaglish fur-boy called Huggy.
Christine's latest YA novel "Intruder" won the 2015 Davitt Award for Best Debut Crime Book and was shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers. Her debut novel "Dust" is a CBCA Notable Book for Older Readers and was Highly Commended in the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Children's Fiction. Her middle-grade novel "Henry Hoey Hobson" was short-listed for the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, the Qld Premier's Literary Awards and the WA Premier's Book Awards. "Drongoes" for newly independent readers is published by Scholastic.
She lives in Brisbane, Australia, with her husband, kids, and a very bad beaglish fur-boy called Huggy.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 30, 2014
Like many first novels, Dust is autobiographical fiction, set in the time and place in which I grew up. Writing it changed my life. It made me into a writer, something braver and more foolhardy than anything I had ever attempted before. And for that I will be eternally grateful.
"[Dust] is a fierce, snarling, lively little tale, like being squashed into the backseat of an old Holden with a bunch of sticky kids... It is Thea Astley’s Australia from a child’s perspective: the individual torn between fitting in and staying true to their beliefs; the horrors and cruelty that happen behind the scenes as a rural community fails its individual members; the inexorable tragedy caused by crimes as mundane as ignorance and indifference...You need to slow down a bit, reading this book. As well as the story and the issues it raises there is Bongers’ delightful use of language ... Some of her sentences are ready to escape the page and transform themselves into bits of poetry, which is all the more striking given that the subject matter is largely confined to boys’ farts, tractors and dust, the grim realities of farming ‘this sorry land and its tawdry broken promises.’ Viewpoint – on books for young adults, Volume 17, No 3, Spring 2009.
"[Dust] is a fierce, snarling, lively little tale, like being squashed into the backseat of an old Holden with a bunch of sticky kids... It is Thea Astley’s Australia from a child’s perspective: the individual torn between fitting in and staying true to their beliefs; the horrors and cruelty that happen behind the scenes as a rural community fails its individual members; the inexorable tragedy caused by crimes as mundane as ignorance and indifference...You need to slow down a bit, reading this book. As well as the story and the issues it raises there is Bongers’ delightful use of language ... Some of her sentences are ready to escape the page and transform themselves into bits of poetry, which is all the more striking given that the subject matter is largely confined to boys’ farts, tractors and dust, the grim realities of farming ‘this sorry land and its tawdry broken promises.’ Viewpoint – on books for young adults, Volume 17, No 3, Spring 2009.
August 20, 2015
This is a brilliant story with many layers. It begins with a mother driving her two children, in a rushed trip to attend a funeral, from Brisbane to a remote outback community in the heart of outback Queensland.
The back cover blurb starts with this:
Twelve year old Celia Maria was named after saints and martyrs to give her something to live up to.
Over my dead body, she vows.
Celia Maria has to be tough, she has five brothers. Punk especially likes to torment her. The Kapernicky’s live next door and were often the butt of their games. ‘Sis, you’ve got Aileen Kapernicky’s germs!’ The game of ‘tag’ or ‘thump and tag’ began. They had to have loopholes to get around that one in Confession. A fortnightly trial they had to endure as Catholics in a largely agnostic area.
Having been in an audience session at Somerset Literary Festival earlier this year and enjoying her speak, I recall she said ‘It’s a wonder I survived my childhood.’ As much of what she put in this book was drawn from her own childhood, I can only wonder how Christine made it to adulthood.
Aileen and Janeen Kapernicky were new to their school. Celia only knew there was something different about them. Aileen would do cart wheels in the playground while Janeen would sit silently by. They invaded Celia’s space as she loved to swing on the monkey bars. Worse still her best sanctuary was the library, one day Janeen was there with her. Celia took an instant dislike to Aileen and fighting was another sin she would have to Confess. Janeen was distant, and Celia realised they shared a love of books, so why did she find it hard to get to know her better?
The small town community suffered the drought, the dust, the gossip and small town scandals. I loved how Christine gets the reader into the heart of the family, the struggles and life of the dust bowl of rural community in the heat of outback Queensland.
Christine Bongers grew up in Biloela, Central Queensland. She left to go to University, became a broadcast journalist, in Brisbane and London. At Somerset she described radio as a fantastic way to have fun, then television was even better. This book shares the memories of her youth and her boundless enthusiasm for life born out of surviving her own brothers, the heat and dust.
I loved it and will happily recommend this to anyone who loves reading Young Adults books and coming of age stories.
The back cover blurb starts with this:
Twelve year old Celia Maria was named after saints and martyrs to give her something to live up to.
Over my dead body, she vows.
Celia Maria has to be tough, she has five brothers. Punk especially likes to torment her. The Kapernicky’s live next door and were often the butt of their games. ‘Sis, you’ve got Aileen Kapernicky’s germs!’ The game of ‘tag’ or ‘thump and tag’ began. They had to have loopholes to get around that one in Confession. A fortnightly trial they had to endure as Catholics in a largely agnostic area.
Having been in an audience session at Somerset Literary Festival earlier this year and enjoying her speak, I recall she said ‘It’s a wonder I survived my childhood.’ As much of what she put in this book was drawn from her own childhood, I can only wonder how Christine made it to adulthood.
Aileen and Janeen Kapernicky were new to their school. Celia only knew there was something different about them. Aileen would do cart wheels in the playground while Janeen would sit silently by. They invaded Celia’s space as she loved to swing on the monkey bars. Worse still her best sanctuary was the library, one day Janeen was there with her. Celia took an instant dislike to Aileen and fighting was another sin she would have to Confess. Janeen was distant, and Celia realised they shared a love of books, so why did she find it hard to get to know her better?
The small town community suffered the drought, the dust, the gossip and small town scandals. I loved how Christine gets the reader into the heart of the family, the struggles and life of the dust bowl of rural community in the heat of outback Queensland.
Christine Bongers grew up in Biloela, Central Queensland. She left to go to University, became a broadcast journalist, in Brisbane and London. At Somerset she described radio as a fantastic way to have fun, then television was even better. This book shares the memories of her youth and her boundless enthusiasm for life born out of surviving her own brothers, the heat and dust.
I loved it and will happily recommend this to anyone who loves reading Young Adults books and coming of age stories.
April 25, 2011
Set in country Queensland in the 1970’s, this is the story of 12-yr-old Cecilia, who is struggling to find her own identity amongst 6 brothers. It is a story about discovering who you are, staying true to yourself, how you treat others and learning from your mistakes.
This isn't what I usually read and I was a bit slow to start it. I guessed pretty quickly what the revelation at the end would be but stuck with it in case I was wrong.
This is the perfect book for girls 12+ who prefer real-life fiction over fantasy.
This isn't what I usually read and I was a bit slow to start it. I guessed pretty quickly what the revelation at the end would be but stuck with it in case I was wrong.
This is the perfect book for girls 12+ who prefer real-life fiction over fantasy.
November 9, 2014
Christine Bongers has outdone herself. Starting with the mystery of the Kapernicky girls, Dust keeps you reading with a fantastic writing style. Bongers highlights the qualities of outback life and, every reader can imagine themselves in the dry towns of Jambin and Biloela (which are cosy little outback towns in Australia).
As a starting novel, Bongers has outdone herself, and has followed it up with her other novels, Henry Hoey Hobson, and Intruder, which are both set in Brisbane.
Dust is a must-read for anybody who enjoys quality writing styles and stories about Australia and its outback.
As a starting novel, Bongers has outdone herself, and has followed it up with her other novels, Henry Hoey Hobson, and Intruder, which are both set in Brisbane.
Dust is a must-read for anybody who enjoys quality writing styles and stories about Australia and its outback.
July 17, 2016
Dust is about a girl and the struggles of school, being outsiders and groups of different social people, as well as child abuse. It is about the interactions of Cecelia with the kapernick family, taking the reader back in time to when Cecelia was a child.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2013
a bad book
November 9, 2013
Whyy did I have to read this O.O worst book ever
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews