Cassandra
Is the future set like concrete, or a piece of clay we can mould and change?
On a remote farm in Queensland, Cassie Shultz feels useless. Her perfect brother Alex has an uncanny ability to predict the weather, and the fortunes of the entire family hinge upon his forecasts. However, her own gift for prophecy remains frustratingly obscure. Attempts to help her family usually result in failure.
After meeting with her new genius neighbour Athena, Cassie thinks she has unlocked the secret of her powers. But as her visions grow more vivid, she learns that the cost of honing her gift may be her sanity.
With her family breaking apart, the future hurtles towards Cassie faster than she can comprehend it.
Available in print and ebook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, or your favourite bookstore or online retailer.
$23.95
Book Details
| Weight | 349 g |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 216 × 140 mm |
| Extent | 262 pages |
| Format | Paperback |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, Young Adult |
| Release date | 6 February 2017 |
| ISBN | 9781922200785 |
| Imprint | Odyssey Books |
About The Author
Kathryn Gossow
Kathryn Gossow is a writer and sometimes gardener living in a two acre garden in a pocket of the Brisbane River. When she is writing, her garden is a mess. When she is gardening, she forgets to write. It seems she cannot have both. She writes for that elusive feeling when she gets into the zone and there is nothing else in the world but her and the words that tumble onto the page. Kathryn has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, won a commendation in the Australian Horror Writers’ Association Flash Fiction Competition and has a number of published stories out in the world.
Rachel –
Sometimes a rare book comes along that draws you into the lives of its characters so fully that you feel, in the end, as though you have walked alongside them in reality. Cassandra is one such book. Exquisitely written with excellent characterisation, it highlights Odyssey Books’ expertise in discovering hidden gems that breakdown genre expectations. Though classified as young adult, it is literary and spiritual in nature, with a compelling story.
Set in rural Australia in the 1980s, it beautifully captures this era in a moving coming of age story about teenager Cassie, who, like her mythological namesake Cassandra, catches glimpses of the future, but finds this to be more of a curse than a blessing. There is a sense that the three fates of Greek myth are watching over the story as it unfolds. Cassie’s visions are fascinating and obscure and her relationships with her friends typical of a confused young teen who has more reason than most to feel she doesn’t fit in. The events that unfold in the book are difficult enough to deal with, without the added complications her visions cause.
Highly recommended