The Museum of Broken Things

The concise opening of Lauren Draper’s debut YA novel immediately had me hooked: a new town, a mysterious statue and a curse all make for intriguing storylines. In The Museum of Broken Things we meet 18-year-old Reece, in her final year of high school and living four hours from her home town. The reasons for this become clear as the story unfolds: suffice to say that death, grief and depression have all played a part in her family’s relocation. The link to Reece’s new, smaller beachside town is her grandmother-a formidable force in the medical field and a champion of women’s rights up until her passing. Just one of the novel’s many plot threads involves Reece solving the mystery behind an old apothecary curio bequeathed to her by her grandmother, and the author deftly weaves in historical references that also generate some nice suspense. Draper’s strength is her characters-from Reece’s hormonal jock younger brother to a cranky bookshop owner-which are fantastically drawn without any stereotyping, and all highly credible. I was thoroughly invested in each of their journeys, and older teenage readers will definitely make personal connections on many levels. The well-crafted dialogue is filled with humour and emotion, while romance, friendship, family-and everything in between-help build our heroine’s confidence and self-worth. Fans of Nina Kenwood’s It Sounded Better in My Head and Lisa Walker’s smart and sassy character Olivia Grace will not be disappointed by Draper’s highly detailed coming-of-age mystery. Freelance reviewer Alida Galati is a secondary school librarian and reading enthusiast. *Read her interview with Lauren Draper about *The Museum of Broken Things *here. *

Lauren Draper is a Melbourne-based writer and marketing professional. She is a graduate of RMIT’s Professional Writing and Editing program and now works in children’s publishing—she loves nothing more than a story infused with magic, hijinks and a touch of nostalgia. The Museum of Broken Things, her debut novel, was acquired after it was shortlisted in the 2020 Text Prize. Her work has also been longlisted in the 2019 Richell Prize and has appeared in various non-fiction publications. She grew up in Western Australia, mostly on land but often in water. She now lives in Melbourne with one struggling coffee machine, a moderately behaved golden retriever and her partner.

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