Living on a tropical island with your beloved twin sister – sound like bliss? This is where 14 yr old twins Winter and Summer are now living. They are closer than close, and used to doing everything together. Winter is quiet and thoughtful and full of empathy for others. Summer, not so much. She is the strong, determined, practical one of the two – but still fiercely full of love for her twin.

They have brought their mum’s collection of classic books to the island, using stories to try and understand the world around them. They read and reread them, knowing the characters as if real family members.

They’ve lived all over the world with their scientist father, but that was years before he brought them to the island to continue his research. Or at least that’s what he told them.

Summer in particular will tell you about Paris in France that is now nothing but circles of oblivion where the bombs hit. There were self-driven cars years ago until someone hacked into the system and turned them into vehicles of mass destruction. Then there is the greyness, a virus sweeping the world.

So why wouldn’t you want to live on this deserted island? Dad was super organised, and they had tons of food in their stores. He’d taught them the basics of survival and they could light a fire and trap food. They are self sufficient, or are they?

They are quite happy together on the island, even after Dad had gone – at least until Edward steals Winter away. Edward is a boy, or is he a bear? At first the twins adore him, but soon the twin’s unbreakable bond is threatened.

What should Summer do? Will Winter keep their secrets?

This story has not one but two unreliable narrators. In their defence, their parents weren’t so hot on telling the truth either. The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love is a strange tale of fantasy/realism, told in two viewpoints that flick back and forth in time, leaving the reader to piece everything together. The truth is fluid in their sharing of the past, morphing one way and then another, but also beautifully told.

I was confused at who or what Edward is – a boy, a bear, their imagination? But ultimately, he is a force that comes between the twins – something that has never happened to them before. Who will win – love or blood?

I can understand why this story won awards and was shortlisted for so many more. It is unique, a conundrum of love and the past, and our possible future being laid out before us. Sibling love ties it all together, even when blame could have ripped them apart. You’ll have to read this yourself to discover the magic of it.

Author – Davina Bell

Age – 16+

List of Awards / Shortlistings

Award Winner, Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult’s Literature, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, 2021
Award Winner, Book of the Year for Older Readers, Children’s Book Council of Australia, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Young Adult, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, 2021
Award Commended, Writing for Young Adults, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Best Designed Young Adult Cover, Australian Book Design Awards, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Young Adult, Davitt Awards, Sisters in Crime, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Readings Young Adult Book Prize, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Debut, Davitt Awards, Sisters in Crime, 2021
Award Longlisted, Book of the Year for Older Children, Australian Book Industry Awards, 2021
Award Shortlisted, Griffith University Young Adult Book Award, Queensland Literary Awards, 2021

Teacher’s Notes here

(2021, Award Winner, Dystopian, Unreliable Narrators, Siblings, Twins, Sisters, Orphans, Island, Lies, Truth, Our future, Past, Survival, Love, Jealousy, Bear or Boy, Talking Whale, Magical Realism, Fantasy, Liars, Tokyo, Data, Control, Humanity, Sacrifice, Grief, Loss, Technological disaster, Progress, Greed, Crime, Murder, Family, Growing up, Suicide, Secret)