Laurinda is about a girl named Lucy Lam who starts attending an elite school on a scholarship. At Laurinda, a powerful group of students called the Cabinet controls both other students and some teachers. As Lucy becomes involved with the Cabinet, she sees how they manipulate others and faces challenges to her own identity and values. The story is both funny and emotional, as Lucy tries to fit into this wealthy world while staying true to herself.
Here are some resources that you may find useful during your studies. Search the Bennies catalogue Accessit for more, or browse the Non-fiction collection NFS.
Download a copy of Laurinda ebook here.
Alice Pung is the author of Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the anthology Growing Up Asian in Australia. Alice’s work has appeared in the Monthly, Good Weekend, The Age, The Best Australian Stories and Meanjin.
The author of Laurinda found a classic Australian book was pivotal in shaping her own writing about class.
A collection of Quotes from the book Laurinda
Over the past weeks, I have been asked many questions about Laurinda at launches, public talks and over the radio, so I thought I would share these written answers with readers about the book:
It’s been nearly eight years since Laurinda was first published. It even inspired a book of short stories and has been studied by countless high school students. How do you feel about it now and has this changed since it was first published?