Steph Bowe

In 2018, seventeen-year-old Sunny and Toby are on the run after zombies have destroyed most of the adults in their world. Cut to 2034 when Sunny is being held in an underground facility. What happened? Was it aliens, a conspiracy, a simulation, biological terrorism, a totalitarian takeover? And who can infiltrate the facility and release the surviving prisoners? The tables will be turned more than once in this thrilling and thought-provoking novel. With Steph Bowe’s sad passing at the age of twenty-five, in 2020, we lost a truly wonderful author of three smart, funny YA novels. Her mother and sister discovered a manuscript on her the book you have in your hands. Steph was always wise beyond her years, with the power to access other worlds. Somehow, in Sunny at the End of the World, she predicted an ‘outbreak’ much like the one that changed our world, after she was gone...With her trademark humour, endearing characters and brilliant storytelling, Steph Bowe has left us a novel that helps to make sense of the rapidly changing world we live in. Steph Bowe was born in Melbourne in 1994. Her first YA novel, Girl Saves Boy, published in 2010, was aptly described by Rebecca Stead as ‘full of the absolute truth—life is complicated’. Steph went on to publish two further YA novels, All This Could End, which was longlisted for the 2014 Gold Inky Award, and Night Swimming, a Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable Book in 2018, when it was also longlisted for a Sisters in Crime Davitt Award. Sadly, Steph passed away on 20 January 2020, after a courageous battle with a rare form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. She was twenty-five. The manuscript of her posthumous novel, Sunny at the End of the World, was discovered on her computer by Steph’s mother and sister.

Steph Bowe is back. Night Swimming is a love story with a twist, and a whole lot of heart. Imagine being the only two seventeen-year-olds in a small town. That’s life for Kirby Arrow—named after the most dissenting judge in Australia’s history—and her best friend Clancy Lee, would-be musical star. Clancy wants nothing more than to leave town and head for the big smoke, but Kirby is her family has a history of leaving. She hasn’t heard from her father since he left when she was a baby. Shouldn’t she stay to help her mother with the goat’s-milk soap-making business, look after her grandfather who suffers from dementia, be an apprentice carpenter to old Mr Pool? And how could she leave her pet goat, Stanley, her dog Maude, and her cat Marianne? But two things happen that change everything for Kirby. She finds an article in the newspaper about her father, and Iris arrives in town. Iris is beautiful, wears crazy clothes, plays the mandolin, and seems perfect, really, thinks Kirby. Clancy has his heart set on winning over Iris. Trouble is Kirby is also falling in love with Iris… She smiles at me again. No one smiling at me has ever made me forget to breathe. I am unaccustomed to the thrill of it, of being smiled at by someone so beautiful. I feel like I’m a Jane Austen character, swooning like the silly girl in Northanger Abbey who is obsessed with novels.   Steph Bowe was born in Melbourne in 1994 and now lives in Queensland. She has written two earlier YA Girl Saves Boy and All This Could End. Steph is currently a Stella Prize Schools Ambassador for Queensland. ‘A funny, diverse, authentic story of family, love, musicals, crop-circles and goats.’ Lili Wilkinson ‘Night Swimming is at once sweet and serious; a love-letter to outsiders, the kooky and complex—it's an ode to first times and best friends...but above all else, it's a reminder of how lucky we are to have a writer like Steph Bowe in our midst.’ Danielle Binks, Alpha Reader ‘Steph Bowe’s latest novel is the utterly charming story of two best friends, the small town they live in and the girl they both fall for. It is a tender and humorous tale of family ties, friendship and first love.’ Erin Gough  ‘Beautiful and fresh, Girl Saves Boy is full of the absolute truth—life is complicated. I could not put it down.’ Rebecca Stead on Girl Saves Boy 'All This Could End could well be the most entertaining novel you would have read in a while.' Magpies Magazine   'She has an ease of style that makes you feel you are eavesdropping on a real conversation, not reading cleverly crafted lines of dialogue.' ABC Radio Central West  ‘Night Swimming is a sweet story of coming of age, family and first requited love. There is a genuine-feeling desire in the story to see the good intentions in lightly sketched but complex characters, which gives the book a lot of heart. It will appeal to fans of realistic Australian YA and to readers searching for sweet and hopeful queer love stories.’ Books + Publishing  ‘This bittersweet comedy of romantic misunderstanding, life management and family relations is poised at the emotional intersection between forgiveness and self-acceptance.

Sasha tiene 17 años y, afectado por una leucemia en fase terminal, acaba de intentar suicidarse en un lago junto a su casa. Pero una desconocida de ojos inquietantes ha llegado justo a tiempo para impedírselo: se llama Jewel y ella tampoco tiene una vida precisamente fácil. Para empezar, su hermano murió en el mismo lago en el que Sasha ha querido quitarse la vida. A raíz de este accidente, el padre de Jewel se fue de casa y ella tuvo que irse a vivir al campo con sus abuelos. Al morir estos, Jewel tuvo que regresar a casa de su madre, pero la relación entre las dos es muy complicada, porque ahora son casi dos desconocidas. Tras conocerse en el lago, Sasha y Jewel entablarán una amistad especial. Y pronto ambos entenderán que hay muchas cosas contra las que no pueden luchar. Les queda poco tiempo, pero sus caminos se han cruzado y ahora eso es lo único que importa realmente. Una historia que habla sobre la verdadera amistad, la enfermedad, el amor y los conflictos familiares... y también sobre los enanitos que habitan en todos los jardines.