Forever & ever by Allanah Hunt

Allanah Hunt’s debut novel is a heart-wrenching story of young love and unplanned pregnancy. Each of her two young protagonists are struggling with family pressures: for Talia it is caring for a mother who has lost grip on normalcy, and deflecting an overly critical estranged father; while for Johnny it is the challenge of living up to the expectations of parents who have worked hard so that he can have the future they missed out on. Talia and Johnny are both lonely, needily seeking out comfort in each other. Talia has built a hard shell around herself, her sarcastic repartee hiding her true feelings, whilst Johnny is at a loss to know what he really wants from life. The two find solace in each other.

Talia, from a white family, only gradually begins to become aware of the daily abuses that Johnny, a Barkindji boy, constantly faces, the subtle undercurrents of racism that can occur in everyday conversation. She is unaware of the connotations underlying her father’s questions to Johnny: ‘Oh, you study?’, ‘So, who pays for your education?’, ‘Oh, your parents work?’ This is the kind of racism that isn’t immediately apparent, the stereotypes that Barkindji woman Allanah Hunt seeks to raise awareness about in her work as a cultural sensitivity reader. Her role is to eliminate further perpetuation of harmful misrepresentations in texts that have negatively impacted Indigenous peoples for far too long. Her novel highlights both the obvious situations of blatant racism and bullying, as well as the harmful attitudes that go unremarked.

Issues of mental health are another strong theme, from the delusional escapism of Talia’s mother, to the simple kind heartedness of the intellectually disabled adult-child Vinnie, to the co-dependent neediness of Talia’s relationship with Johnny. Talia and Johnny each have to find their individual inner strength, before they can assume the responsibilities of parenthood.

So whilst Forever and ever may appear at first glance to be another lighthearted teen romance, this is a novel which explores serious issues in a thoughtful way, and raises questions which should provoke reader reflection and intelligent discussion. Teaching notes are available on the publisher's website.

Themes: Racism, Teenage pregnancy, Mental health, Anxiety, Loneliness, Parent-child relationship.

Helen Eddy