Others Were Emeralds by Lang Leav

 

A small Australian town named Whitlam now houses mainly immigrant families from the Far East.  The narrator of this novel and her family fled Cambodia due to Khmer Rouge.  Others came from Vietnam or Thailand.  Life is hard but easier than where they came from and everyone works hard to build a better life.

In the high school, a group of teenagers form a group.  Ai is the narrator and Brigette is her best friend.  Bowie is Ai's first boyfriend and Tin is his friend.  Sying can become obsessive and her latest obsession is politics and the way immigrants are treated.  There is prejudice against the immigrants mainly from the white population of Australia but day to day Whitlam is fairly safe as the majority of the town are all those who have fled other countries.

Then a horrific event changes the lives of these friends forever.  As high school ends, the individuals move on with their lives, each searching for a way to thrive in their country and to remain close to their individual families and cultures.

Lang Leav is an Australian author who was born in a refugee camp before her family came to Australia.  She began her career as a poet and has several books of poetry.  That comes through in her fiction writing as the language is evocative of the environment and what is happening around the characters.  Loyalty to family and friends is another keynote of the novel as is the ability to realize that everyone has their own life and not everything done is focused on oneself.  The novel is ultimately hopeful and lets those not living the life experience the life of an immigrant.  This novel is recommended for multicultural and literary fiction readers.