Image retrieved from Goodreads, 2022.
Still Alive : notes from Australia's immigration detention system by 
Is it possible for two very different teenagers to fall in love despite high barbed-wire fences and a political wilderness between them?
Anahita is passionate, curious and determined. She is also an Iranian asylum seeker who is only allowed out of detention to attend school. On weekdays, during school hours, she can be a ‘regular Australian girl’.
Jono needs the distraction of an infatuation. In the past year his mum has walked out, he’s been dumped and his sister has moved away. Lost and depressed, Jono feels as if he’s been left behind with his Vietnamese single father, Kenny.
Kenny is struggling to work out the rules in his new job; he recently started work as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre. He tells Anahita to look out for Jono at school, but quickly comes to regret this, spiraling into suspicion and mistrust. Who is this girl, really? What is her story? Is she a genuine refugee or a queue jumper? As Jono and Anahita grow closer, Kenny starts snooping behind the scenes…
Plot Summary: Between Us. (2018). In Goodreads Inc
Ana:
is a teenage asylum seeker from Iran. She lives with her pregnant mother and toddler brother in a detention centre in Darwin The family must wait for news about their refugee status. Ana can only leave the detention centre to attend school.
Kenny:
is a Vietnamese-Australian who works as an officer at the same detention centre. Detainees describe Kenny as ‘one of the good ones’. But Kenny soon discovers that his his colleagues interpret his kindness as not only weak, but dangerous. Kenny’s values are being challenged, yet he can’t risk losing his job. At home, Kenny is struggling with his new role as a single dad to his increasingly distant son, Jono.
Jono:
has lost both his girlfriend and his mother to other cities. Now his older sister has left for university. Jono’s friends are protective of him, knowing he is just keeping his head above the deep waters of depression. Their ways of helping him aren’t necessarily leading him to make healthy decisions though. He’s been hurt, and is finding it nearly impossible to connect with his father. Jono finds solace in listening to music, something he and Ana have in common. Jono meets Ana when she joins the Year Ten cohort at his Darwin high school, and a relationship develops between the pair.
Character summaries retrieved from https://theblurb.com.au/wp/us-clare-atkins-book-review/, 2022.
Atkins is an author, scriptwriter, script editor and produce. Born and raised in Sydney, she has also lived in Bathurst (for university), on a small Spanish island called La Gomera, and in Arnhem Land. She currently lives in Darwin.
She has also written for many successful Australian television dramas, including All Saints, Home & Away, Headland, Winners & Losers and Wonderland.
She has a teaching degree, and loves running workshops about scriptwriting and creative writing in general.
Production Year: 2018 Duration: 10:21
Description: Claire speaks to University High School (Melbourne) students about her book 'Between Us', personal stories of refugees in detention in Australia. The stories provide a glimpse into the reality of life in detention as experienced by young people. With subtitles. A compelling read.
