Tomorrow, When the War Began

John Marsden’s “Tomorrow” series began in 1993 with the young adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began. It tells the story of a foreign power invading and occupying Australia. Teenage girl Ellie Linton, a member of a group of teens who are in their final year of school and are attempting to stage guerrilla warfare against the enemy, serves as the first-person narrator. The fictional town of Wirrawee serves as the present day setting. The text is presented in the form of Ellie’s journal. Ellie is the daughter of sheep farmers. The young protagonists and how they deal with the obstacles and threats that have befallen their world add a dimension to the book that keeps it from becoming simply an action story or tale of war. Ellie’s passion for writing takes her narrative beyond a chronology of events and draws upon all of the emotions, joys, and pains that she and her friends experience throughout their ordeal. They are on their own, feeling that they have been ignored and even betrayed by the adults in their world. This leads to a need for independence that has them growing but at the same time feeling conflicted, as their successes as they face adversity seem to be equaled by their defeats. Their actions, however, are a testament to courage, and the young people show that perseverance can lead to heroism in ordinary people.

The book opens with Ellie embarking on a week-long camping trip with her friends Homer, Lee, Kevin, Corrie, Robyn, and Fiona. They make their way to a sinkhole in an isolated bush area that is known as “Hell” to the local people, and decide to camp there. Adding a touch of mystery to the mood as the group makes its way down to the valley is a rumor that for many years a hermit lived there after having murdered his wife and son. Once they reach their destination they have a relaxing time. Several days pass, then one night many planes fly overhead throughout the night with no lights on. They notice it but do not think it is anything out of the ordinary, or a reason for concern. When they finish their outing and return home to Wirrawee they find that there are no people left there and that any animals, including pets and cattle, are dead or near death. They split into three groups to explore the situation, knowing that something serious has taken place in their absence. They ultimately figure out that the town has been captured by some invading forces that they have not identified. The people are being held as prisoners and the town is being used as a beachhead by the enemy. A beachhead is an area along a beach that an enemy occupies and from which it can launch an attack.

When the occupiers notice and go after Ellie and her group, the teens are able to escape by using the fuel from a lawnmower to fashion a makeshift explosive. As events continue, Ellie and some of the others find that Robyn and Lee have gone missing. While searching for them, Homer and Ellie find Robyn. Lee has been wounded by a gunshot to the leg and is in hiding somewhere along the main street of the town. This area is also the hub of the enemy’s activities. The group discusses a course of action and it is decided by Ellie that they should try to rescue Lee. They use a front-end loader to move Lee and protect him. The action takes the lives of some of the soldiers but ultimately Lee is brought safely back to “Hell.”



As the group spends more time together they grow closer and relationships begin to form. A romance grows between Ellie and Lee, while Homer falls for Fiona. Kevin and Corrie were already romantically involved before the invasion took place, and this relationship continues.  The group proceeds to local farmhouses to find food and any other supplies that might be useful.  They then return to “Hell” and set up a home base and begin plotting ways to use guerrilla warfare against the enemy. They steal an oil tanker and with it blow up the bridge that leads out of Wirrawee. As their raid progresses, Corrie gets shot while looking for supplies. Kevin brings Corrie to the town’s hospital, which is now occupied by the invaders, and, in a trade to obtain medical treatment for her, turns himself in to the enemy.

In Tomorrow, When the War Began John Marsden deals with survival as a major theme, but not just in the context of meeting one’s basic needs. When Ellie and her friends return to find their town in shambles and realize what they are up against, they immediately know that they must act not as individuals but as one united entity in order to survive. Everything that has happened has changed the rules of survival. The norms of society no longer exist. What is expected of teenagers is now something they need to figure out for themselves. An uncertain future means thinking in terms of the survival of society at large.