Alex in Winter

Alex is 15 - a champion swimmer hoping to be selected to swim for Australia in the 1960 Olympic Games. She is, however, in the winter of grief and self-doubt. Her boyfriend was killed in a hit-and-run accident and she can no longer communicate with friends and family, choosing instead to lock herself into training and confrontation with the petty bureaucracy which seeks to deny this unconventional girl a place in the Olympic squad. The story is immediate and powerful. The vocabulary and ideas challenge and stimulate the reader. The '60s setting throws the exploration of women's role in society into sharp relief and examines the sexual and political stereotyping from an historical perspective which illuminates contemporary concerns. Well worth buying for library or book box.