Fourteen

I love "coming of age" memoirs, especially written by Australian's. I find them to feel familiar and relatable. And this memoir is breathtaking. It's a story of bullying, harassment and violence, but also about self-discovery. Described by Molloy as, "a love letter to my mother."

Molloy recounts his traumatic experiences encountered over the course of his year as a fourteen year old boy in Yeppoon, Queensland. It details the torment and bullying experienced as an adolescent whilst coming to understand and accept his sexuality. We travel with Molloy as he navigates through his incredibly difficult year and emerges on the other side much stronger, happier and assured of the person he is.

The writing is raw, vivid and immeasurably honest. There's a relatability within these pages even though experiences can differ. We're all uncovering and confronting our insecurities throughout adolescence but we don't understand that when we're living it. Instead we feel alone and confused. Sharing stories such as these unites us in our differences and are so important to assist the generations to come.

Shannon Molloy's account of his fourteenth year as a schoolboy in a Catholic boys' school in a small Queensland town in the 1990s is heartbreaking. Not just that a young boy could be so tormented and bullied by other boys but that the adults, who should have protected him, turned their backs on him.

Adolescence is a difficult enough time for any child, but especially for young boy just starting to be aware and confused by his sexuality. Teachers not only allowed derogatory comments about homosexuality to be aimed at Shannon by fellow students without comment, but in one case read out to the class a love letter supposedly written by Shannon to another boy. Detailing lurid sexual acts it was clearly faked but was read out in full as the class erupted with laughter. No wonder Shannon thought about suicide and wanted only to escape the school, which he eventually did by applying for a place on an overseas exchange program which opened up the world and it's possibilities to him.

Despite documenting the brutal and degrading events that happened that year, the book is infused with humour and a joy in life. Shannon's female friends from primary school and his family helped to sustain him through this difficult time. Rhonda, an older woman who ran the local Youth Services encouraged Shannon to drop in and help out and with her encouragement to turn his obsession with fashion into running a successful fashion show during Youth week.

This courageous account of what the author endured that year and how he eventually survived and flourished should be essential reading for teachers and teenagers, not just to give the bullied hope for a better future but also for the bullies to understand how destructive their thoughtless comments and actions are for their hapless victims.