Sonya Hartnett is the critically acclaimed Australian author of many books for children, young adults, and adults; GOLDEN BOYS is her newest book. She has been awarded many prizes for her work and has been published in not only Australia and the USA, but many other countries as well.
 
GOLDEN BOYS follows a 1970s Australian working-class neighborhood of complex and complicated families as seen through their children's perspectives. When a new, richer family moves in, they capture the attention of the rest of the kids on the block with their shiny new toys and overly welcoming father. As the story progresses, we follow mostly boys, including Syd, Colt, Bastian, Garrick and Declan, as well as one girl: Freya. They all come from families unlike the others and their stories weave together in a fascinating way throughout the book.

"I think the strongest part of GOLDEN BOYS was the diverse characters and their development throughout this book."

Let me start off by saying I had little idea what to expect from this book, but what I got was a good surprise. I was drawn in by the interesting premise and the breathtaking writing. All of the characters were very dynamic, and the author did a fantastic job portraying these kids’ thoughts. It was almost as if this was a middle-grade book with young adult writing. I was shocked by the level of maturity in some of the characters due to the fact that they were all younger than 13.  
 
I think the strongest part of GOLDEN BOYS was the diverse characters and their development throughout this book. The book was really short and quite slow in the beginning, with a slow-burn plot that I barely even realized was there. The ending was way too abrupt for me and I wish there was, at least, a tiny bit of closure and Hartnett did not just leave us with more questions than answers.This was a very psychologically-driven story, and even with so many different points of view, we still got to know all of the characters’ motivations except for the ones Hartnett purposefully withheld. When reading this book, details and twists will sneak up on you unexpectedly and cause you to think about how you could have missed them and if they are even true.
 
I would recommend this book to the “upper” YA audience or older. I don’t think it will appeal to everyone, but it may just work for you. I recommend you give it a shot because it is a really well-written story that I won’t soon forget.