Review: Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough

School girls and secret hoaxes

Harriet Price has the perfect life: she's a prefect at Rosemead Grammar, she lives in a mansion, and her gorgeous girlfriend is a future prime minister. So when she risks it all by creating a hoax to expose the school's many problems – with help from notorious bad-girl Will Everheart, no less – Harriet tells herself it's because she's seeking justice. And definitely not because she finds Will oddly fascinating.

But as Will and Harriet’s campaign heats up, it gets harder for them to remain sworn enemies – and to avoid being caught. As tensions burn throughout the school, how far will they go to keep their mission a secret?

Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough is an Australian young adult novel which follows the lives of two students at the highly prestigious Rosemead Grammar, perfect Harriet and outcast Will. This dual perspective narrative allows us to examine Rosemead through two different lenses: someone who has lived and breathed Rosemead their whole life and a newcomer who is capable of viewing the school through a more critical lens.

You know what astounds me the most? How this school manages to brainwash allegedly smart people.

After years of ignoring each other, Harriet and Will find themselves joining forces to create a satirical cartoon and surreptitiously submit it to the school newspaper under the false name of Amelia Westlake. Because Amelia doesn’t exist, she can criticise the school without fear of punishment or retribution.

Amelia Westlake is an exciting and original take on the classic school story. In this edition, the students are trying to convince their school to change its old fashioned, outdated ways and improve. 

There are moments in one’s life of sudden clarity, moments when you recognise you’ve been stumbling along, happily admiring the landscape, only to realise there are sharp rocks below your feet, the surrounding plants are heavy with poisonous berries, and the path you’re following is no ordinary path; it’s a sociopath called Will Everhart.

Gough has created a wonderful and engaging cast of characters. Both Harriet’s and Will’s voices sing out strongly throughout the story and are well surrounded by their world of family, school teachers and friends.

Winner of the Reading Young Adult Book Prize and the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, among many other shortlistings, it’s easy to see how this page turner has captured so many hearts. It’s a brilliant blend of romance, friendship, mystery and trying to change the world.

Rating: Highly recommend

Book: Amelia Westlake
Author: Erin Gough
Publisher: Hardie Grant
Publication Date: 2 April 2018