When We Wake

January 14, 2013
Awakening from cryogenic stasis 100 years after being accidentally shot by a sniper, 16-year-old Tegan Oglietti must adjust to a new life in 22nd-century Australia. The big question, both for readers and for Tegan: why has she been revived? The answer, which is gradually revealed through Tegan’s confessional-style narration, demonstrates that, despite technological and other advances, human greed, corruption, and self-interest persist across the centuries. Healey (The Shattering) constructs a very persuasive future world, whose technology, slang, hyperconnectivity, and climatic peril are smartly extrapolated from contemporary society (meat consumption is heavily taxed, drugs are regulated and safe, and Australia has a strict “No Migrant” policy in place). The diversity of the cast is authentic and natural, from the lesbian and transgendered friends Tegan makes to her love interest, a brusque Somali classmate with secrets of his own. Healey doesn’t make her points about social justice and activism through big, flashy moments; the story’s injustices unfold in a way that’s stark and unvarnished, and Tegan’s determination to right the wrongs she finds will hit home with readers. Ages 12–up. Agent: Barry Goldblatt, Barry Goldblatt Literary.

December 13, 2012

Award-winning New Zealand writer Karen Healey’s third YA novel, When We Wake, is a taut drama set in an unnervingly realistic future world of rising oceans, growing populations, and dwindling resources. In 2027, 16-year-old Tegan Oglietti dies on what should be the happiest day of her life. But Tegan is given a second chance at life—the problem is, it’s 100 years later. Tegan is part of an experimental cryonics program, and is the first ‘freezie’ to be successfully revived after spending a whole century in a coma. In the strange new world of 3027, her survival propels her into the media spotlight. Tegan soon realises that things are being kept from her, and she’s determined to uncover the shocking truth. Healey’s previous novels cleverly combine teenage issues and supernatural themes; When We Wake, with its vision of a future world profoundly altered by climate change, feels closer to home, raising important concerns about how the way we live now may affect generations to come. Tegan is a compelling and believable narrator, and her story is full of moral complexities that are as suspenseful and dramatic as they are topical and relevant.

Carody Culver is a part-time bookseller at Black Cat Books in Brisbane and a full-time PhD student