Between Us

From the award-winning author of Nona & Me comes a stunning new novel about two teenagers separated by cultural differences, their parents' expectations, and twenty kilometres of barbed-wire fence.

Winner, CBCA's 2019 Book of the Year for Older Readers

Is it possible for two very different teenagers to fall in love despite high barbed-wire fences and a political wilderness between them?

Anahita is passionate, curious, and determined. She is also an Iranian asylum seeker who is only allowed out of detention to attend school. On weekdays, during school hours, she can be a 'regular Australian girl'.

Jono needs the distraction of an infatuation. In the past year, his mum has walked out, he's been dumped, and his sister has moved away. Lost and depressed, Jono feels as if he's been left behind with his Vietnamese single father, Kenny.

Kenny is struggling to work out the rules in his new job; he recently started work as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre. He tells Anahita to look out for Jono at school, but quickly comes to regret this, spiralling into suspicion and mistrust. Who is this girl, really? What is her story? Is she a genuine refugee or a queue jumper? As Jono and Anahita grow closer, Kenny starts snooping behind the scenes ...

An urgent, compelling and transcendent love story for our times. - Alice Pung

I want everyone to read this book right now. - Fiona Wood

A beautiful, raw and timely book. - Melina Marchetta

This is a story about internal lives, feelings and relationships, and the things we can and can't control. It is realistic and charming, tackling some big issues with compassion and insight. - Books+Publishing

Between Us is an engaging and powerful book that delivers a heartfelt and emotionally captivating story. Its depiction of detention centre life serves as a wake-up call for an issue that will remain relevant for quite some time. - Joe Murray, The Readings Teen Advisory Board

I've just finished Clare Atkin's Between Us and I have no words. I could not have been prepared for the emotions it dragged me through - emotions so strong because they are rooted in issues that affect thousands of innocent people. - Kirrily Ireland, The Readings Teen Advisory Board

iBBY Australia's 2020 Honour Book for Writing
Shortlisted, Readings Young Adult Book Prize 2018
Shortlisted, 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Young Adult category
Shortlisted, 2019 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
Shortlisted, 2019 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Young Adult Literature category
Longlisted, 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards, Book of the Year for Older Children