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Tomorrow series

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For the UK children's Science Fiction TV series, see The Tomorrow People.
The Tomorrow Series
Tomorrow When The War Began
front cover
AuthorJohn Marsden
LanguageEnglish
GenreAction, Adventure novel
PublisherPan Macmillan (Australia)
Publication date
1993-99 (Australia)
1993-99 (Europe)
1995-2009 (USA)
Publication placeAustralia
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages7 books on average 280 pages each

The Tomorrow series is a series of seven young adult invasion novels written by Australian writer John Marsden, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. The novels are related from the first person perspective by the main character, Ellie Linton, a part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy soldiers in the region around their fictional home town of Wirrawee. The name of the series is derived from the title of the first book, Tomorrow, When The War Began.

The books in the series were originally published from 1993–99, by Pan Macmillan and have been reprinted sixteen times. A sequel series, The Ellie Chronicles, was later published from 2003-06. The follow-up series concerns itself largely with the attempts of society and the protagonist to regain a normal level of functioning in the face of the psychological damage sustained during the war.

The invading nation is never specified in the books; in fact, no nation in the world meets the criteria laid out in the series,[1] most likely by deliberate intent of the author. Likewise, no parts of the war outside Ellie's immediate perspective are covered; the reader is not informed exactly how much of the country is under enemy control, or how well the war is going for the Australian military. It is likely that this was Marsden's intention, given that the series focuses on the characters more than the actual war.

Tomorrow, When The War Began and its sequels are one of the most popular and critically acclaimed series of novels aimed at young readers in Australian literature history.[2] It has sold between 2 and 3 million copies in Australia and has been translated into five languages, one of them being Swedish, where the series has sold over 115,000 copies.[2][3] In 2000 the American Library Association listed the first book in the series as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.[4]

Books and Plot

Ellie Linton goes out camping in the bush for a week with her friends Homer Yannos, Lee, Kevin Holmes, Corrie Mackenzie, Robyn Mathers and Fiona Maxwell. They find a way into a large, vegetated sinkhole in a remote area of bush the locals have dubbed "Hell", and camp there for the week. During this time they see large numbers of planes flying through the night without lights, and though it is mentioned in conversation the following morning, they think little of it.

When they return to their home they find that all the people are missing and their pets and livestock are dead or dying. They come to realize that their families never came back from the Commemoration Day Show. Avoiding capture, the group return to Hell and after short period of recovery begin start making plans to fight back.

Over the course of the first three books in the series, the group succeeds in destroying a bridge that leads into town, an enemy convoy; several houses are being used by the enemy as a centre of operations and a nearby strategic harbour. The surviving members of the group are eventually captured and placed in a high security prison. During an air-raid by the Royal New Zealand Air Force the group escapes, but loses yet another member while doing so. The group encounter a downed RNZAF pilot and arrange to evacuate to New Zealand.

Book four, Darkness, Be My Friend, takes place several months later. The group tries to live a normal life in New Zealand with other refugees, but are haunted by the war (which is still ongoing). They are approached by the New Zealand Defence Force, who are seeking Australian guerrillas to act as guides for Kiwi SAS units which are being dropped into occupied Australian territory to act as guerrillas. The group returns to Wirrawee, their hometown, accompanied by a platoon of crack special forces troops.

The SAS troops go missing while on a mission to destroy Wirrawee Airfield (which is being used as a major military airbase). Alone behind enemy lines once more the group decided to attack Airfield themselves. They fail and return, depressed, to Hell.

Soon after, through sheer luck, the group find themselves perfectly positioned to attempt another attack on the Airfield. This time they succeed, and manage to destroy a majority of planes on the airfield. After the attack, the group find their way to the nearby city of Stratton. In Stratton they discover a tribe of feral (and hostile) children (they even dare to mug the group), who have been living on the streets and hiding from enemy troops since the war began.

The group rescue five of the children from being captured by enemy patrol, and escape back to Hell. For a time the group looks after the children. During this time strained relationships are mended and the soul destroying effects of the war a tempered by a chance to do something positive.

This period does not last however. A patrol ambushes them near their base and after a prolonged fire fight, the group realises that they are no longer safe in Hell, and make contact with New Zealand immediately.

They discover that the war is entering its final day’s and that group’s of partisans like themselves are being asked to cause as much chaos as possible behind enemy lines as possible while New Zealand and its allies launch an all offensive. The group arranges for the feral children to be evacuated to New Zealand and provided with plastic explosives to carry out their task.

The group only attacks a service station frequented by enemy troops but are separated in the aftermath. Ellie is shot and taken prisoner. While interned she discovers the location of her mother and father. She escapes, and is reunited with her mother she stays with her until news breaks that the war is over - Australia signed a peace treaty with the occupying power, resulting in the formation of a new nation on the continent.

It transpires that Wirrawee is on the Australian side of the border, and Ellie, her mother and her father return to their farm and like all the other survivor’s of the war, begin picking up the pieces of their lives.

The Ellie Chronicles

Following on from the Tomorrow series, these three books continue Ellie's story after the war.

  • While I Live (2003)
  • Incurable (2005)
  • Circle of Flight (2006)

The three books detail Ellie's struggles in post-war life in Wirrawee. Ellie finds herself running the family farm after the murder of her parents, and dealing with Gavin, the deaf boy she rescued during the war. Shortly after the death of her parents, Ellie faces bankruptcy and turns to Homer's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Yannos, for help. In addition, a youth group called Liberation (who has recruited both Lee and Homer), headed by the mysterious 'Scarlet Pimple' (a play of words on "The Scarlet Pimpernel"), are conducting secret border raids against the new nation.

Characters

The group

Ellie Linton
The main protagonist and narrator of the series. A simple farm girl who has "never been anywhere beyond Stratton in her eye brow man with ideas, she is one of the ringleaders of the group. Despite her reluctance to be in the thick of the action, especially if it is a major action, Ellie always tries to save the lives of their friends even if it means risking her own or commit the killings herself. She develops an on-and-off relationship with Lee.
Corrie Mackenzie
Ellie's best friend since childhood; they would often do things together or tell each other their secrets. Corrie and Ellie would have travelled the world together had it not been for the war. It was Corrie who first suggested going on a camping trip into Hell, which became the group's hideout for the war. She is a character who has become the tragedy of the group - her house was destroyed by an enemy fighter and she was shot by the end of the first book. She went into a coma immediately afterwards and was taken to Wirrawee hospital. Corrie does not wake from her coma and died while the group was recuperating in New Zealand.
Homer Yannos
A Greek farm boy who lived next to Ellie's farm and a brother-figure to Ellie. Because many people, especially teachers, see Homer as a wild and lazy boy, Homer took up this personality and as such would hide behind this façade to surprise his friends and others of what he is truly capable of. Nevertheless the wild side of him did make him become the leader, main planner and another ideas person for the group, often putting him into conflict with Ellie. But as the series progresses he gradually relies on Ellie to come up with ideas on how best to solve the situation. Homer develops a slower romance with Fiona Maxwell.
Fiona Maxwell
Commonly referred to as 'Fi' by the group, she came from a family of solicitors and lived in town. She was shown early to have very little rural experience and was physically the least capable of the group. Ellie in particular saw Fi as someone to be protected due to her class upbringing and lesser experience. Despite this Fi would somehow find the courage within herself to complete the tasks despite how dangerous they were and how really scared she was, and would also risk her own life to save others. She would also stay away from conflicts within the group, preferring not to take part in them. She becomes Ellie's confidante after Corrie's death and acts as the most rational member of the group after Robyn. She develops a slow romance with the wild Homer.
Lee
A Thai-Vietnamese Australian, Lee also grew up in town but worked in his parents' restaurant. Lee was a natural piano player but also had very few friends and watched many horror movies at night, often alone. Lee did however have a crush on Ellie, who also found Lee to be "curious". He was most susceptible to moody depression, often taking off by himself for hours at a time away from the group, especially after a major action or killing a soldier. While being philosophical in life, Lee does have a vengeful side, which overrode all other thoughts after finding out his parents were killed by the soldiers, becoming a risk to the group.
Robyn Mathers
Ellie's friend who has a religious view on life. Normally a quiet person, she only becomes serious when the group undertakes a major action against the enemy. Robyn acts as a person of wisdom and would encourage others to keep moving forward no matter how emotional the situation gets. She has a calm personality and is the most rational of the group, thus becoming a sort of secondary leader whenever Homer and Ellie seem out of the action. Being religious and a pacifist though, she would only take part in attacks that would harm the enemy but not directly kill them, not even if it was in self-defense. The only exception to this was when she sacrificed herself to kill Major Harvey to buy the group more time to escape. Robyn's death had affected every member of the group in some way or another, while they were recovering in New Zealand.
Kevin Holmes
Corrie's boyfriend, who would always act tough but preferred not to be directly in the middle of the action. Ellie notes that he is a guy who relied on others to give him the action, otherwise he would get bored easily. Kevin did drive Corrie to Wirrawee Hospital in an act of self-sacrifice and was beaten up before being chucked into the Showground camp. When the group successfully rescued him, Kevin became an expert in explosives and later on develops a taste for science. He is not a risk-taker, to the point that he broke down mentally during the group's attack on the airfield.
Chris Lang
A guy who some say is a genius while the others find him weird. Chris was picked up by the group after hiding out from the invasion for days. However he preferred to be alone than consult with the group, and the group took it as such unless they were on a raid. He was a natural poet which reflected either his current moods or the group's morale in Hell. Being aloof and demoralised made him turn to alcohol, which contributed to his untimely and senseless death while the others were in the Holloway Valley.

Others

Major Harvey
A former school deputy principal who was commanding a group of adults called Harvey's Heroes. Harvey exhibits extreme sexist attitudes (particularly towards Ellie) and believes that Australia had grown too soft over the years. Harvey was nowhere to be seen when Harvey's Heroes were massacred by the enemy but Ellie and the group found him weeks later cooperating directly with the enemy and interrogating the Wirrawee prisoners. The group attacked Fi's street where Harvey and the enemy officers were staying but Kevin later revealed that Harvey was still alive. The group next meets Major Harvey at Stratton Prison when they were captured, and Harvey, believing that a gang of high school students could not have staged terrorist attacks without outside help, attempted to persuade Ellie that the war was good for Australia, to no avail. Major Harvey was killed with a grenade by Robyn (sacrificing herself) trying to stop the group escaping during a New Zealand air raid.
Colonel Finley
An officer in the New Zealand Army Intelligence introduced in The Third Day, The Frost. Colonel Finley becomes the teenage group's caretaker after their evacuation from Stratton, looking after their recovery efforts until he called them back to act as guides for a Kiwi commando unit into Wirrawee. After losing contact with the commandos, the group kept in touch with Finley via radio, and he becomes their de facto commanding officer and their only source of news. After the war he is promoted the rank of General.
Gavin
A deaf boy of twelve who was part of gang of children hiding out in Stratton for most of the war. Despite his deafness he was still able to order his group of ferals (Jack, Darina, Natalie and Casey) around effectively, bringing him into conflict with Ellie's group, whom Gavin did not trust. Unlike the other ferals, Gavin liked to be in the thick of the action, eventually gaining Ellie's trust and respect for the boy.

Reception

Upon publication, the series was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews. Horn Book Magazine said that "Marsden's story is riveting because he makes it feel so real... Thoughtful explorations of the nature of fear, bravery and violence... add depth and balance to the edge-of-the-seat-action and intense first person narration".[5] Georges T. Doods from Sci-fi Site described the series as "An elevation of adventure literature to heights that are only achieved once or twice in a generation."[6]

With the exception of Tomorrow, When the War Began and The Night is for Hunting every book in the series was listed by the Children's Book Council of Australia as notable title for older readers for its respective year of publication.[7]

The novel is recommended by the New South Wales Board of Studies as a text to be studied in English classes during Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10).[8]

In 1996 the American Library Association named Tomorrow, When the War Began as one of the best young adult titles published in America in that year.[9] In 2000 the same organization listed the book as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000.[10]

In 1999 the third book in the series, Third Day, The Frost won the Buxtehude Bull, a prestigious German prize for young adult literature.[11]

In 2000, the Swedish Government paid to have Tomorrow, When the War Began distributed to every child of appropriate age in the country after it was selected by their peers as the book reluctant readers would be most likely to enjoy.[12]

List of awards and nominations received by the Tomorrow Series

Title Year Notes
Tomorrow, When the War Began 1993
The Dead of The Night 1994
The Third Day, The Frost 1995
Darkness, Be My Friend 1996
Burning For Revenge 1997
The Night Is For Hunting 1998
The Other Side Of Dawn 1999
The Ellie Chronicles
While I live 2003
Incurable 2005
Circle of Flight 2006

Films

Main article: Tomorrow, When the War Began

In June 2009, Screen Australia announced that it would fund the development of the feature film Tomorrow, When the War Began, written and directed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Australia, Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), and produced by Andrew Mason for Ambience Entertainment, reportedly to begin production in late 2009.[29][30][31] Raymond Terrace in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, was chosen as a major location for producing the film.[32] The film was released in Australian cinemas on 2 September 2010.

References

  1. ^ http://www.rsimpson.id.au/books/tomorrow/explore/enemy.html
  2. ^ a b August 06, 2008 Tomorrow Series Relaunched for Today’s Readers Publishersweekly.com
  3. ^ Bibliographer Researches Australian Children’s Books National Library of Australia ISSN 1039-3498, no. 58, August 2002
  4. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~antaylor1/alabestteens.html
  5. ^ Knoth, Maeve Visser. "The Dead of Night". Horn Book Magazine. ISSN 0018-5078.
  6. ^ Dodds, George T. (1998). "The Tomorrow Series, Part 2".
  7. ^ http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/fiction/authors/at13.htm#marsden
  8. ^ "Fiction, Film and other Texts: A support document for the English Years 7–10 Syllabus" (PDF). Board of Studies. p. 25. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  9. ^ http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/1996bestbooks.cfm
  10. ^ http://home.comcast.net/~antaylor1/alabestteens.html
  11. ^ http://www.buxtehuder-bulle.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=73&lang=en
  12. ^ "John Marsden Australia Author Biography and Booklist". The Bookshelf of Oz. Retrieved 19 October 2010. Cite error: The named reference "judyoz" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Marsden, John 1950- - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g "Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  15. ^ "ALA 1996 Best Books for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association. 1996. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  16. ^ "AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION'S 100 BEST BOOKS FOR TEENS". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  17. ^ "ALA 1998 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association. 1998. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  18. ^ "ALA Nominations". American Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  19. ^ "Australian Children's Choice Awards". CMIS. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  20. ^ "Tomorrow When The War Began". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  21. ^ a b c d e "Authors and Illustrators - M". CMIS. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  22. ^ "The Dead of the Night by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  23. ^ "The Books Tomorrow-Movies - The #1 Fansite for John Marsden's 'Tomorrow, When The War Began', the Tomorrow Series and the upcoming Tomorrow Movies". Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  24. ^ a b c "TripAtlas - About Tomorrow Series". TripAtlas. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  25. ^ "The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  26. ^ "The Nielsen BookData Booksellers Choice Award" (PDF). Australian Booksellers Association. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  27. ^ "The Night is for Hunting (The Tomorrow Series #6) by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  28. ^ "notables04pb". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  29. ^ "John Marsden book to be made into film". Nine News. 22 July 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  30. ^ "Stuart Beattie looks to 'Tomorrow'". The Hollywood Reporter. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009. [dead link]
  31. ^ "Screen Australia announces funding for five features including Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos and Tomorrow When the War Began". Screen Australia. 16 June 2009. Retrieved 28 October 2009.
  32. ^ "Terrace on centre stage". Port Stephens Examiner. 9 September 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2009.

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