Billy has had enough. His father is too used to his beer and swinging his fists, so Billy decides now at 16 it is time to leave. With a few dollars in his pocket, a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of champagne he sets off, never expecting to escape in a speedboat. He doesn’t drink champagne or smoke, but he knew taking them would annoy his abusive father.

Kindness from a stranger takes Billy to a small rural town. This town used to be a hive of industry, the train yards being the hub, but progress came with a brand new highway and now only the local cannery injects any life into the area.

Billy knows he’ll have to be smart with his limited funds, and finds a place to sleep in an empty railcar. Little does he know he has a neighbour. Named the same, Billy quickly names the man sleeping in the next railcar ‘Old’ Bill, as they slowly get to know each other. Old Bill is probably younger than he looks, thinks Billy, but his long, lank, grey hair, grizzled, unshaven face and clothes reeking of booze and fags, ages him. Still, Billy reaches out with his own nugget of kindness.

Caitlin lives in this town, in the grandest house, paid for by her wealthy father. She has always been lavished in gifts, money, and all she ever dreamed of, but as she’s grown it has all come to mean nothing. She chooses to work at McDonalds mopping floors in a deal she has made with her mother about her future.

Here she meets Billy, who has long since worked out how to eat on a shoestring. He can instantly see she is well off, by the expensive watch she wears, and Caitlin sees the opposite in Billy. Still, they watch and wonder about this person from another way of life.

Billy, Old Bill and Caitlin are all disillusioned within their separate lives, with pasts that have hurt, grief or apathy swirling under the skin. It is kindness, empathy and generosity of spirit that binds them and takes them on a path of hope for a better future. The simple gifts of life reveal themselves as this unlikely trio are bonded together.

First published in 2000, and multi award winning, this moving verse Australia YA novel is just as relevant today, and needed even more on both YA & Adult bookshelves. The verse isn’t flowery or trying to be clever. It’s spare, simple, and full at the same time, giving the reader time inside the hearts of these three characters, in order to get to know them.

The 3 Points of View from ‘runaway’ Billy , ‘daddy’s little rich girl’ Caitlin and ‘hobo’ Old Bill, reveal their internal conflicts, dreams and pasts, all as they all search for meaning, hope and a future.

Themes of ‘The Simple Things in Life are the Best,’ ‘Don’t judge a Book (or a Person) by it’s cover’ – both rich or poor, and ‘A Little Kindness Can Change a Life,’ are takeaways from this novel. I dare you not to be changed, even if only a little, after reading this gem.

Author – Steven Herrick

Age – 16+

(2000, Uni Queensland Press, Homeless, Kindness, Empathy, Grief, Loss, Hopelessness, Depression, Wealth, Independence, Runaway, Meaning, Hope, Verse novel, Australian, Award Winning, Growing up, Poverty, Secret, Family)