As I teach a boy who has the condition known as synaesthesia , I was hoping that this book might give me some insights into how he sees the world. Unfortunately, I am disappointed as Sandy Fussell has chosen to write this as a kind of fantasy whereby the main character Charlie travels back in time and experiences the events that happened in the Cowra breakout when she touches or sees a photo. Its a nice enough story about a girl called Charlie who has lost her brother to whooping cough a few years ago and this has seen her mother refuse to speak to Charlie's grandmother. Into Charlie's life comes a Japanese exchange student who brings with him touching reminders of Charlie's lost brother Eli, but also has a family mystery of his own to solve which is tied to the Cowra breakout. The story is resolved nicely at the end but really didn't provide me with an accurate picture of what synaesthesia is like. ( )