RPM

Winner of the 2010 Qld Premier's Literary Award for Best Emerging Author
The year ahead was the one where first Stephen, then JD, then Barrington, then me, would all leave teenage life behind. Yet here we were still, unsure if we would ever break free. Something had to change. And something was about to. For a group of young people on the cusp of adulthood, music is their bond. RPM follows Neil's tentative early forays with girls, his fumbling attempts at musical greatness with his band and his dreams of leaving small-town confines behind. Along with a lively cast of character- JD the DJ, Stephen the Mod, Peaches, Jools One and Jools Two, Neil is drawn to returning London-based musician Ray Peter Manning and his record store, RPM. Drawn together by their shared love of '60s rock and surrounded by the offerings of old vinyl, this unlikely group of friends find a way to drown out the sorrow of the past and plot their youthful dreams of escape. Set in the early 1980s, this award-winning coming-of-age story vividly portrays small-town life and its challenges for young people on the edge of adulthood.