Jasper Jones tells the story of Charlie Bucktin, a thirteen-year-old boy living in Western Australia during the Vietnam War. He befriends the town outcast, Jasper, but soon finds himself in a dire situation that tests his morality. Charlie helps Jasper to cover up the murder of their fellow classmate, Laura, while local residents search tirelessly to find her.
Silvey’s novel received great praise and acclaim as an emotional coming-of-age story that grapples with important social issues. Michael Williams of The Monthly states that “amid the glimpses of small-town bigotry and adult compromise, Jasper Jones offers tender moments of adolescent romance and irresistible vignettes of friendship and quiet triumph.” Silvey won the 2009 Indie Book of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the 2010 Miles Franklin Literary Award.
In 2017, Jasper Jones was adapted into a film of the same name directed by Rachel Perkins and starring Levi Miller. It ultimately won an Australian Writers’ Guild Award for an outstanding screenplay for a feature film adaptation.
