Three street kids, by no choice of their own, have built their home in an ancient 300-year-old Moreton Bay fig tree, smack bang in the middle of the city. They want for nothing except to remain hidden.

Maddie has a special touch, but she doesn’t quite know what. Mac could have been sired illegitimately by royalty, and Jacko, who taught himself to read and write in the local library, is researching a truth that may expose Mac as a true blueblood.

Because of their closeness to nature, they share an uncanny relationship with all animals, finding themselves protected from the world’s ills. They prosper according to their beliefs, which are none.

With their cabbie mates as protectors, they journey through life, generating their own spiritual families, destiny, and successes. They have no goals, no desires or wants; incredibly, all they need simply arrives. They see events that appear as negatives to others as a means to turn them into a positive.

They have nothing but each other, and in their simple state of being, they are beginning to shape their own destiny.

They’re just simply being.

Jenna resides with her family and menagerie in Noosa, Queensland. Her love of putting pen to paper started at the age of 7. A woman of simple means as she believes it’s what makes one contented. A devout protector and voice for all things that are not able to defend themselves as she has no fears. Her love of writing she believes, was formed from her love of life.

Customer Reviews

5.0

3 reviews

Rachel

t's a wonderful story about people who function in a world that most might overlook: three homeless kids living in a tree house above a Carlton taxi rank, the cabbies who quietly look out for them, and a sharp old woman in a rundown house on Lygon Street who knows more than she lets on. When Maddie comes back after vanishing years earlier, she starts digging into her family's past, and the people who once relied on her start trying to find her. What stood out to me was how well it captures Melbourne. You can smell the garlic frying on Burke Street and hear the trams going past. The tree house feels completely believable, and the friendship between Maddie, Jacko and Mac is the heart of the book. There's humour too. Yasif, the grumpy cabbie, is a great character, and his battles with his wife Imelda had me laughing. There's also a thread of the unexplained running through it: a cockatiel that turns up on everyone's shoulder, a garden that shouldn't be able to grow, and the strange night Maddie disappeared. It's handled lightly, so the story stays grounded while keeping you curious. I'd recommend it to anyone, especially older kids who like character-driven fiction with a strong sense of place and a bit of mystery. Great, fun and entertaining read.
Vicky Brider

I throughly enjoyed reading Hobo. It was like climbing back into childs play, having a tree house, freedom and friendship. I love to hear the Australian slang, sayings in the book. Lots of laughs. Very colourful.
Runamuk Visuals

This feeling has only hit me once before. A week after finishing “Hobo” I found myself trying to place a moment from a film, a film with the street kid and her lamb like jacket... That’s how well words flow in this book. The pages took me to a place that didn’t exist, and it’s beautiful in itself.