The first book I just finished by Melina Marchetta titled Jellicoe Road. Taylor Markham has just entered her senior year at a boarding school along the Jellicoe Road. She has been chosen to be the leader for the school, something she doesn't want because she has issues of her own. She was abandoned at the age of eleven by her mother, a drug addict, and very close to a woman that has been there for her at every turn who has disappeared. Taylor is struggling to connect the dots of her past and open herself up to a new relationship with one of the cadets down the road. It is very hard to have a relationship when he is the leaders of the Cadets. They are the ones, along with the Townies, who are fighting for territorial rights.
There are two parts to the story and you have to keep track of both parts, which at times can be confusing. Taylor is reading a journal that belongs to the missing woman trying to get a clue to her whereabouts. The journal is in italics, so pay close attention because everything is explained toward the end of the book. This won the 2009 Printz Award given for exemplary writing in Young Adult literature. It is a book with a lot of raw emotion and one that has one rooting for Taylor to find out the missing pieces of her life. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.