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y separately published work icon Stepping Back single work   novel   young adult   romance  
Issue Details: First known date: 1996... 1996 Stepping Back
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Somaly is a sixteen year old part-Cambodian girl who has lived with her mother on the remote west coast of Tasmania since she was a toddler. Somaly's mother was a nurse in post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia when she gave birth to Somaly. Shortly after that, Somaly's father was killed by a land mine and Somaly and her mum left the country for Tasmania. Juxtaposed with Somaly's life in Tasmania is the life of Keo, a traumatised Cambodian who lost an arm and his girlfriend in a Khmer Rouge ambush, and who now works as a hospital orderly on the Thai border. About the time Keo is informed that he'll finally be allowed to return to Cambodia, Somaly's mother in Tasmania finds out she has MS. If she's ever to return to the country she has ached over for years, she must do it soon. So Keo from the Thai border, and Somaly and her mother from Tasmania step back into a war-ravaged country filled with stoical, quietly-spoken people who, despite the legacy of Khmer Rouge rule, genocide, an estimated one million buried mines and extreme poverty, are still to this day strongly imbued with Buddhist warmth, graciousness and compassion. (from Author's website)

Exhibitions

Affiliation Notes

  • This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it contains a Cambodian character.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Longman , 1996 .
      image of person or book cover 1027450122018706455.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 135p.
      ISBN: 0582809649
      Series: Rave Fiction Longman (publisher), 1996-1999 series - publisher novel

Works about this Work

On Travel, Lifelong Students, and Asking 'What If?' Steve Tolbert , 2005 single work essay
— Appears in: Access , vol. 19 no. 1 2005;
Tolbert discusses the origins of many of his works, and how they all began with a 'what if' question. Includes a discussion of works-in-progress that later became the short stories 'Surfing for Wayan,' 'Summits,' and 'Tunnelling Cu Chi.'
Untitled John Cohen , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 41 no. 3 1997; (p. 30)

— Review of The Blue Faraway Janine Burke , 1996 single work novel ; Stepping Back Steve Tolbert , 1996 single work novel ; The Snake Cave Ann C. Whitehead , 1996 single work novel
Untitled John Cohen , 1997 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 41 no. 3 1997; (p. 30)

— Review of The Blue Faraway Janine Burke , 1996 single work novel ; Stepping Back Steve Tolbert , 1996 single work novel ; The Snake Cave Ann C. Whitehead , 1996 single work novel
On Travel, Lifelong Students, and Asking 'What If?' Steve Tolbert , 2005 single work essay
— Appears in: Access , vol. 19 no. 1 2005;
Tolbert discusses the origins of many of his works, and how they all began with a 'what if' question. Includes a discussion of works-in-progress that later became the short stories 'Surfing for Wayan,' 'Summits,' and 'Tunnelling Cu Chi.'
Last amended 24 Apr 2019 16:36:40
Settings:
  • Tasmania,
  • Phnom Penh,
    c
    Cambodia,
    c
    Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
  • c
    Thailand,
    c
    Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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