Writing Clementine

Kate Gordon

• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781743434093
• Edition: 0

A funny, warm, feel-good novel about friends, family, first kisses, and finding your way in the world
"You said we could write anything we wanted. The first thing that came into our minds. Blue fish, red fish, green fish . . ."
Clementine Darcy is floundering. She wants to be the kind of fish who swims to the swish of her own fins—upstream, not simply carried along by the current. But she is finding the swirling waters of school and home difficult to navigate: her friendship group is splintering, her brother Fergus won't leave his room, her sister's life is not as perfect as Clem thought. and then there's the New Boy, who is dapper and intriguing, but hiding secrets of his own. Clem is desperate for everyone—including herself—to be happy, but she discovers that her idea of helping doesn't always work as well as she imagined. Can Clem be the girl she wants to be? Will she learn to accept that there are things she can fix and things she cannot? Will she find a way to know the difference?

Table of contents

• COVER PAGE
• TITLE PAGE
• COPYRIGHT PAGE
• DEDICATION
• CONTENTS
• DEAR MS HILLER,
• YOU SAID YOU’LL ONLY READ OUR WRITING IF WE WANT YOU TO; THAT YOU’LL UNDERSTAND IF WE WISH TO KEEP IT PRIVATE.
• TODAY I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT A STRANGE THING THAT HAPPENED.
• MY FIRST MEMORY
• NOTHING ABOUT ALAIN DE BOTTON, MS HILLER?
• CLEO KISSED TODD CAMPBELL.
• A MEMBER OF MY FAMILY
• MY BEST FRIEND
• ‘FINISH THIS SENTENCE,’ YOU SAID. ‘LIFE’S TOO SHORT NOT TO . . .’
• HI, MS HILLER.
• THE THING I AM MOST SCARED OF
• I SAW THE BOY AGAIN TODAY.
• I KNOW WE HAVE A TOPIC TODAY . . .
• MY FAVOURITE MEAL
• LAST NIGHT, I DECIDED TO TRY TO SPEND SOME TIME WITH SOPH.
• IT’S FRIDAY, MS H, AND I’M SLIGHTLY STRESSED.
• I’M HOME NOW. I’M NOT IN CLASS. BUT I NEED TO TALK. I’M NERVOUS, MS HILLER.
• MY FAVOURITE FLOWER IS THE PANSY
• AT HOME, I WENT STRAIGHT UP TO FERGUS’S ROOM AND KNOCKED ON HIS DOOR.
• IT’S MY SECOND DAY OF FRIENDLESSNESS, MS HILLER.
• DEAR MS HILLER,
• THE MOST INTERESTING PERSON IN CLASS TODAY
• ALYSSA WROTE BACK TO ME!
• THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE
• I DON’T FEEL LIKE WRITING REAL STUFF TODAY, MS H.
• I TRIED TO TALK TO CHELSEA-GRACE TODAY.
• I’M SORRY, I KNOW I’M MEANT TO BE WRITING ABOUT HAPPY MEMORIES.
• FRED AND I WERE SITTING UNDERNEATH THE CIDER GUM.
• A HAPPY MOMENT
• LAST NIGHT I WENT OUT WITH THE BURNIE STEAMPUNK SOCIETY.
• IF I COULD SAY A SINGLE THING TO ANY PERSON OF MY CHOOSING, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
• WHAT A WEEKEND I HAD, MS HILLER.
• DEAR MS HILLER,
• THE STEAMPUNK BALL
• THERE’S MORE, MS HILLER.
• ON THE MONDAY, CLEO LED ME TO THE GROUP’S NEW LUNCH SPOT, IN THE QUAD.
• WHAT I DID LAST NIGHT
• SOMETHING I’M WORRIED ABOUT RIGHT NOW
• LAST NIGHT I WENT TO FISH FRENZY AGAIN WITH SOME OF THE STEAMPUNKERS.
• HAPPY MONDAY, MS HILLER.
• YOU’RE CONFUSED, AREN’T YOU?
• THERE’S A WALL
• THE BEST MEAL OF MY LIFE, TAKE TWO!
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHOR