Having people who understand you and care for you proves to be a source of healing. However, it shows that there is something special in having people around you struggling in the same ways. It was hard to read as someone who hasn’t experienced anything like the book, so I can only imagine the impact it has on kids that see themselves in this story. This novel proves to be plenty of heartache and pain. Again she is left and feels disposable, causing her to despise Jonah. Jonah has an intense dream about his father that causes him to go home, leaving Taylor. They share a common tragedy that brings them together and eventually in search of Taylor’s mother. It seems that the intense pain that both of them have suffered leads to their attraction to each other. “I loved him, you know” (Marchetta 179), he tells Taylor. His father was abusive to him and his siblings and it one day led to Jonah beating his dad in the hat with a bat, leaving him dead. There were parts of Jonah’s life that made Taylor’s look like a fantasy. Later in the novel Taylor develops a relationship with Jonah Briggs, leader of the cadets, a group from a military school that trains in Jellicoe for a few weeks every year. As far as she knows she’s expendable, if her mom left why couldn’t Hannah? It was a comfort that the house wasn’t finished because in her mind it meant that Hannah wasn’t going anywhere. She was scared that Hannah might not truly care about her. Deep down I think that’s always been a comfort to me, because people don’t leave unfinished houses” (Marchetta 22). Hannah’s house was never finished, which warranted Taylor saying that “ Hannah’s house has been unfinished ever since I can remember. Taylor doesn’t understand why her mom left her, and doesn’t understand why Hannah, her only guardian, keeps her at an arm’s distance.

This is the only book from the semester that deals with orphanage. Starting with the tragedy that is Taylor. This young adult novel by Melina Marchetta is riddled with searing loss, pain, but just a little bit of hope. Throughout the next few years Taylor is suffering through the pain of losing her mom, while also asking the questions, where did she go? And could I possibly find her? Taylor is not the only character in this novel to suffer through a severe tragedy Taylor’s mom loses her husband, suffers from a drug addiction, and battles cancer Hannah lost her brother to a hunting accident there was a car accident in the beginning where multiple characters lost loved ones. When Taylor was left by her mom it was Hannah that picked her up and took her in as her own. The road is home to a boarding school, the home of Hannah Schroeder, and the 7/11 that Taylor Markham’s mom left her at when she was only eleven years old. Jellicoe Road is a fictional road inside the city of Jellicoe, Australia.

On the jellicoe road