The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong, by Kirsty Murray

I keep thinking I’ll see him at any moment. It’s crazy. I don’t even know what he looks like. And it shouldn’t matter that I can’t find him. I’ve been fine for 14 years without him. Sorry, this is a stupid email. Hope everything in Sydney is cool. MLK

Maeve has a good life. She lives with her mother, baby brother and step-father in Sydney, has two best friends who do everything together, and loves dancing and acting. But when her mother is killed in a car accident, her life is torn apart. Her strict Chinese grandparents insist she comes to live with them in Queensland. In the turmoil that follows, Maeve starts to wonder about the father she has never met. Could finding him be the key to putting her life back together?

This is the fourth and final book in the Children of the Wind quartet and is set in the present day, completing the journey through the last 150 years of Australia’s history which the series has offered. Like the earlier titles, this book stands alone, with fans of the series enjoying the challenge of seeing where the lives of the characters overlap.

Maeve’s story is gripping – she reaches highs and lows which will stir readers’ hearts, as she explores challenges common to many contemporary teenagers, as well as ones which no teenager should ever have to face, such as the death of a parent.

This is a satisfying end to a satisfying series.

The Secret life of Maeve Lee Kwong, by Kirsty Murray
Allen & Unwin, 2006