That Stubborn Seed of Hope

A boy helps his sister disguise her birthmark on her first day of school.
A seventeen-year-old awakens to find himself trapped in an elderly body.
A teenage girl discovers her boyfriend has a life-threatening virus the day after they share their first kiss.
A high school student tries to communicate to his hospitalised brother who is in a vegetative state.

Brian Falkner serves up bite-sized tales of fear – fear of rejection, fear of dying, fear of disease, fear of the unknown, fear of exclusion, fear of being caught and fear of embarrassment – showing how that stubborn seed of hope hungers our darkest moments.

Review by Lara Summerville

Occasionally a new book will cross our paths that is capable of shattering any illusions we may have about life, capable of inducing some wonderful and scary self-reflection. That Stubborn Seed of Hope is one of these rare gems. One of the most harrowing aspects of life, and most avoided, is the element of fear and our interaction with it. Across 10 vastly different scenarios, the collection of short stories in That Stubborn Seed of Hope explore fear, loneliness and death, among other complex emotions, inducing an existential curiosity within the reader.

From the teenage boy who is torn between doing what is right, and doing what’s right by his friends, to the girl who encounters an almost post-apocalyptic world where society is nothing like our own, each tale confronts fear on both a large and small scale. At a point in every story you will be forced to think on subjects that are better left ignored. Your own mortality, the meaning of life, and social expectations are all topics we’d rather not dwell on, but this book allows you no such luxury. However, the most wonderful aspect of this book is that it progressively provides you with the tools to be able to overcome the tightness in your chest. The title is startlingly accurate; Faulkner plants stubborn seeds of hope within the minds of his readers which is a gift both within the context of his stories, and in life.

For what seems to be a controversial theme for a young adult text, That Stubborn Seed of Hope proves itself to be the opposite. It is a weirdly wonderful, unique and inspired text that tackles very complex and real issues that trigger important self-reflection and inspire hope.

About the Author

Brian Falkner loves telling stories, either in his books, or standing in front of an audience. He is the award-winning, bestselling author of seventeen books for children and young adults, including Northwood and The Real Thing. His 2015 novel Battlesaurus: Rampage at Waterloo won the New Zealand Children’s Book Award for Young Adults and was shortlisted in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

His action-adventure sci-fi novels The Tomorrow Code and Brainjack were both shortlisted for the New Zealand Post Book Awards with Brainjack winning the Children's Choice Award (Young Adult). Brainjack also won the 2010 Sir Julius Vogel Award, Best Young Adult Novel. His books have been published in over twelve countries in seven different languages.