'While the Obernewtyn Chronicles is over, there are many things we still don't know about the world, particularly involving the Beforetime's Cassy and Hannah; the two women who (as far as we're aware) helped set up the keys and clues for Elspeth's quest, and to fill in some of those gaps it's been Isobelle's intention to write several short stories (including the Matthew and Dragon story, which will also explore the Salamander/Ariel relationship). ' (Publication summary)
'Never-before released short story by best-selling author Isobelle Carmody.
'A one-eyed cat weaves its way through Hannah's dreams, beckoning her up high mountains where she must walk the dark road. Her pilgrimage will take her through desert dunes, and deep into the strange recesses of long-hidden memories.
'Guided only by an old letter and her psychic intuition, Hannah's journey will test her ageing limbs, as she carries the weight of her mother's prophecy to her salvation, or peril....' (Publication summary)
'Elspeth is one of a new breed born into a world recovering from widespread destruction. The ruling council will tolerate no opposition. Elspeth must hide her telepathic powers in order to survive. In the mountain orphanage of Obernewtyn, Elspeth meets others with similar powers and together they confront the evil hidden there.' (Source: Trove)
'In the two years since its takeover of Obernewtyn, the secret community of Misfits has flourished. Protected by their remoteness, Elspeth Gordie and her allies have worked hard to develop their forbidden mental abilities—all in preparation for their inevitable confrontation with the totalitarian Council. And though their training is far from complete, the Misfits can no longer stay hidden when they learn of the existence of a new Talent—one whose power may eclipse anything they have seen before.' (Publication summary)
'Reminiscent of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover novels, Obernewtyn introduced Isobelle Carmody as a writer to watch and began a series of novels to entice and enthrall readers of all ages. The Farseekers continued the saga of Obernewtyn and its band of Misfits, children outcast from society because of their psychic abilities–and the story of their heroic leaders, Elspeth Gordie, who alone carried the fate of the world on her shoulders.
Elspeth’s adventures continue as she tries to seal an alliance between the secret Misfit community at Obernewtyn and the rebel forces rumored to be hiding in the capital, right under the noses of the dreaded totalitarian Council.
Elspeth travels from the mountains reluctantly, for at any moment the long-awaited summons may come to find and destroy the dormant weaponmachines left by the Beforetimers. Her journey takes her far beyond the borders of the Land, across the sea and into the heart of the mysterious desert region of Sador. Here she discovers that she cannot destroy the weaponmachines alone–she needs the help of the Sadorians. But before her dark quest can begin, Elspeth must learn the truth of her dreams: she must understand why the Beforetimers destroyed their world . . . .' (Publication summary)
'When Farseeker Guildmistress Espeth Gordie sets out from Obernewtyn to travel to Sutrium at the end of Wintertime, she quickly learns that not everyone welcomes the changes brought about by the rebellion. Captured by an old and vicious enemy, she is drawn deep into the heart of the Herder Faction, where she learns of a terrible plot to destroy the west coast.
'To stop it, Elspeth must risk everything, knowing that if she dies, she will never complete her quest to find the weaponmachines that destroyed the Beforetime.
'But if she succeeds, her journey will lead her to the last of the signs left for her by the seer Kasanda...' (Publisher's blurb)
'Before Elspeth Gordie can continue her journey to find Sentinel and prevent it unleashing the horrors of the Great White, she must fight free of a strange prison, where people are laid to sleep forever or cling to a suffocating existence, believing the world beyond their walls is already utterly annihilated.
'But at the end of her journey, nothing is as she imagined. She is drawn into the struggle for a kingdom, only to find the Destroyer is at the heart of the turmoil, waiting for her.
'Somehow she must do what she has sworn to do, for the sake of the world and all of its creatures. She must complete her quest, no matter what it costs . . .
'The highly anticipated dramatic conclusion to the much-loved Obernewtyn Chronicles from award-winning and bestselling author Isobelle Carmody. Drawing to a close the journey of Elspeth Gordie and the Misfits, The Red Queen will surprise and thrill readers right to the very last page.' (Sourced from publisher's website.)
'Australia has produced many post-disaster novels since the 1980s, our landscape and sense of global isolation inspiring long lists of environmental and political crises. While this literature provokes considerable work from ecocritical and postcolonial perspectives, the representation or use of disability in post-disaster narratives is less studied. This essay undertakes crip readings of a range of Australian young adult novels published since the 1980s, including Isobelle Carmody’s long running Obernewtyn chronicles (1986-2015) and Ambelin Kwaymullina’s Tribe sequence, particularly The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf (2012) and The Foretelling of Georgie Spider (2015).'(Publication abstract)
This chapter explores apocalypse in children's literature with reference to literary attitudes to children, nature and dystopia. Examinations of works by Lee Harding, Victor Kelleher, and John Marsden then focus on how these writers adapt apocalyptic themes for a juvenile audience. Their novels display tyranny, large-scale catastrophe, invasion, and children in danger, and their apocalyptic settings reveal anxieties about isolation, invasion, Indigenous land rights and colonization. (108)
Braithwaite is interested in the use of language in texts with a post-nuclear setting and how through a number of techniques, 'language in the nuclear debate frequently encodes power relations whereby those who massage the conventional meanings of language attempt to influence others, often by promoting an ideological position which can be difficult for the reader to oppose' (35). Braithwaite closely analyses five texts, including The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Isobelle Carmody, which focus on the survival and personal development of the protagonist and/or central characters and in which language is presented as 'a means by which the central characters attempt to excercise power over the world in which they find themselves' (35). For Braithwaite, 'the fascination with language, names and meaning in post-nuclear fiction invites readers to examine how individuals perceive their own realities and how consensus reality can be both questioned and taken for granted' (43). Braithwaite asserts that 'the reader who realises this duality will be in a stronger position both to engage with the text and to examine the ideological positions (both overt and covert) which are being presented'(43).