Broken Glass

Australian author Adrian Stirling’ debut novel, the young adult thriller Broken Glass (2008), is a moody and atmospheric portrayal of a failing farming community whose claustrophobic influence leads a tormented young man to commit a series of increasingly rash and self-destructive acts. Critics praise Stirling’s ability to evoke life in rural Australia, to depict the closed-mindedness of a decrepit small town that has decades of secrets and hatred simmering under the surface, and to ground the reader in the physically stark and barren landscape that undergirds the novel. In 2009, the novel was on the shortlist for Australia’s Gold Inky Award, which recognizes high-quality young adult literature.

The fictional town of Broken Glass, an Australian borderland town whose only landmark is a tall silo, is suffocating equally from the dusty, grit-filled air that suffuses the place, and from the stifling insularity of its culture. It is a hopeless place in particular for its younger residents, who have limited opportunity, almost no hope for the future, and feel oppressed by those around them. Jobs are scarce, limited to only two major employers: the local abattoir or small family-owned business barely making ends meet while neighborhood farms fail “four years out of ten.”

Twenty-one-year-old Danny Clarke is one such young man, although his situation is even more prison-like than usual. When he was 16, his life was ruined in a spectacular way that continues to affect his present-day existence. Although the flashbacks told from his perspective that explain this event are scattered throughout the novel, this summary will relate the plot in chronological order.



Five years before the start of the book, Danny was befriended by Nile, a dangerous, wild, and unpredictable young man. For someone like Danny, who felt almost physically asphyxiated by his life, Nile was a breath of fresh air—even if many of his ideas for fun clearly indicated that he was deeply unstable and threatening. Ignoring the sense of violence that Nile always brought with him, Danny went along with whatever Nile wanted to do—especially since Nile would always push Danny to rebel against what both saw as the town’s unbearable conformity. Soon enough, this turned out to be an enormous mistake, as predictably, Nile went way too far.

Nile violently raped a young woman while Danny was present and did nothing to stop the attack because he was both too drunk and too wary of going against Nile. However, when the young woman later committed suicide, Danny realized the degree to which his “us against the world” attitude towards Nile had corrupted him. Danny turned Nile in, eventually testifying against him. Nile was sent to prison, and because he was forced to admit that he was there during the rape, Danny destroyed his own life as well.

Rejected by the town, Danny has spent the better part of the last five years holed up in his family’s house, sheltered by them and treated with minimal tolerance by everyone else. It is unclear whether this is actually the case to the degree as Danny claims, or whether his years of self-exile have warped his perspective.



As the novel opens, Nile has served his prison term—short because he was a juvenile offender—and returns to Broken Glass. Almost immediately, the erstwhile peace that the townspeople had made with the Clarke family is shattered, as the horror of Nile’s actions is once again at the top of everyone’s mind.

It is quickly clear that everyone in town wants Nile to disappear yet again. This is true for Danny as well, as he realizes that the amount of unresolved tension and anger he feels toward his former friend will never be successfully resolved. Danny feels pulled in two different directions—still somewhat under Nile’s thrall, but also wondering whether by taking action this time around he could possibly redeem himself with the community around him.

As the pressure builds, the story follows Danny’s mind spinning away from reality, reaching what is universally described by readers as a “horrific” climax and ending. Danny rids the town of Nile’s unwanted influence once and for all, killing his friend and himself in the process. Their bodies are washed away by a dirt storm that is followed by unexpected rain, occasioning a flood.