Alyzon Whitestarr

Description

Age range 12+ Alyzon Whitestarr doesn't take after her musically talented father or her nocturnal, artistic mother. In fact, she's the most normal member of a very eccentric family until the day that an accident leaves her more unique than she ever could have dreamed. When she wakes from a coma after an accident suddenly colors are more vibrant. Her memory is flawless; but strangest of all is Alyzon's sense of smell. She can smell people's feelings, view flashes of their lives and perceive their essences. Her best friend smells of a comforting sea breeze. She registers her father's contentment as the sweet scent of caramelised sugar. With Alyzon's extrasensory perception comes intrigue and danger, as she discovers the dark secrets and hidden ambitions that threaten her family. In the end, being different might be less of a blessing than a curse.

Isobelle Carmody wrote her first book, Obernewtyn, at fourteen. The first publisher she sent it to accepted it. It was shortlisted for Children's Book of the Year. Almost 30 years later, Obernewtyn is a Classic Penguin and Isobelle is a multi-award-winning writer of more than thirty novels and many short stories, and aside from the Peace Prize, she has won the Children's Book Council Book of the Year twice, in two different categories, the Golden Aurealis, in the one year it was run and a White Raven at Bologna Book Fair for Greylands, now in development as a screenplay. Isobelle lived with her partner and daughter for ten years in Prague in Eastern Europe until recently, when she returned to Australia to undertake a PhD at the University of Queensland. These days, Isobelle divides her time between a temporary home in Queensland and her house on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. She has recently finished the final Obernewtyn book, The Red Queen.