The Coconut Children

A race to grow up and a search for belonging and identity that we can all -- regardless of family circumstances or cultural heritage -- relate to.

Life in a rough neighbourhood demands too much too young. But Sonny wouldn't really know. In fact, she couldn't be more removed from the trouble that stirs just outside her bedroom window. Watching the world from afar, she lives in second-hand romance novels and tricks herself into falling in love with figments. Everything changes with the return of Vince, a boy who became a legend after he was hauled away in handcuffs years ago.

Sonny and Vince have always known each other. It took two years of juvie, an overbearing mother and a porn stash for them to finally meet again. With all that happened in-between, childhood seems so long ago. But as their friendship blossoms, they stumble upon their younger selves again.

While it can be hard to find poetry in the drug-addicted pulse of a community displaced by war, there is hope and tenderness in Cabramatta.