Countdown to Yesterday
  • Published: 30 January 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761340598
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $21.00

Countdown to Yesterday

Formats & editions
Paperback
30 Jan 2024
EBook
30 Jan 2024
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From the incredible mind of multi-award-winning Australian children’s author Shirley Marr comes a beautiful story for young readers about memories, family, friendship, The Australian Women’s Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book, David Bowie and time travel!

James wishes he could go back in time. Back to when his mum and dad were together, when he had one home, when his family laughed and climbed hills and went to the movies.

After meeting the enigmatic Yan, a girl who looks at the world differently, James discovers time travel might not be impossible after all.

But if James can live forever in one of his six favourite memories, which one will he choose?

‘One part time travel, two parts cake and a whole lot of nostalgia . . . it’s impossible not to love this book.’ REECE CARTER, author of A Girl Called Corpse
‘This smart, lively, retro-cool book about looking back, falling forward and changing your own story will leave you smiling.’ FIONA HARDY, CBCA Notable author of How to Make a Movie in 12 Days

‘A sweet story about love and loss, with a twist that will hit you hard.’ OLIVER PHOMMAVANH, CBCA Notable author of What About Thao?

In a place where retro Australian Woman’s Weekly birthday cakes, old Commodore computers, chaotic rideshare vehicles of the future and spacemen all collide, Countdown to Yesterday is a contemporary novel touched with philosophical and science fiction ideas for young readers.
  • Published: 30 January 2024
  • ISBN: 9781761340598
  • Imprint: Puffin
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $21.00
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About the author

Shirley Marr

Shirley Marr is a first-generation Chinese Australian living in Perth and an author of young adult and children's fiction, including YA novels Fury and Preloved, and children’s novels Little Jiang, A Glasshouse of Stars, All Four Quarters of the Moon and Countdown to Yesterday. She describes herself as having a Western mind and an Eastern heart. She likes to write in the space in the middle where they both collide, basing her stories on her own personal experiences of migration and growing up in Australia, along with the folk and fairy tales from her mother. Arriving in mainland Australia from Christmas Island as a seven-year-old in the 1980s and experiencing the good, the bad and the wonder that comes with culture shock, Shirley has been in love with reading and writing from that early age. Shirley is a universe full of stars and stories and hopes to share the many other novels that she has inside her.

portrait photo of Shirley Marr

Also by Shirley Marr

All Four Quarters of the Moon
A Glasshouse of Stars
See all

Praise for Countdown to Yesterday

Countdown to Yesterday is a space odyssey about a wide-eyed kid, travelling at the speed of life and caught between the past and future. I adored James and his friendship with Yan as they marvel at the delicate things that they've made. Get ready for an emotional rollercoaster with snapshots of grief and joy that tie together a complex life of an Asian-Australian family working their way through problems that science and logic cannot solve. Throw in a bit of Bowie and generous servings of cake, and you have a sweet story about love and loss, with a twist that will hit you hard, long after you put the book down.

Oliver Phommavanh, author of THAI-RIFFIC and WHAT ABOUT THAO?

The kind of story that makes you smile without even realising, and leaves your heart feeling bigger than it did when you started, this is a smart, lively adventure story through mind and memory, with a little bit of science and a whole lot of cake. This beautiful tale of family, friends, loneliness and hope and feels as close as your backyard, and as big as the universe. It's a retro-cool book about looking back, falling forward, and changing your own story. Countdown to Yesterday already feels like a classic; if I could time travel, I would, only to read this book for the first time again.

Fiona Hardy, author of CBCA Notable Book HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE IN 12 DAYS

One part time travel, two parts birthday cake and a whole lot of nostalgia, Countdown to Yesterday is as gentle as it is powerful. As always, Shirley Marr tackles a challenging topic with sensitivity and heart. It’s impossible not to love this book.

Reece Carter, author of ABIA shortlisted A GIRL CALLED CORPSE