Eggshell (Olivia De Zilva, Espresso)

Tender yet unsparing, Olivia De Zilva’s debut young adult novella, Eggshell, is a piercing meditation on adolescence, grief and belonging. Set in Adelaide’s working-class suburbs, Eggshell centres Kira, a mixed-race teenager in her final year of high school who is navigating the imminent loss of her apoh (grandmother) – her caregiver and cultural anchor. De Zilva’s prose is vivid and immersive, attuned to the contradictions of teenage life: graffiti-streaked schoolyards, shifting bonds of friendship, the awkward warmth of first desire. Humour, sorrow and reflection bleed into one another, creating an immediate and unvarnished narrative voice. The novella’s heart lies in Kira’s search for identity as she wrestles with her Cantonese heritage, her parents’ absence and the relentless gaze of new peers who marginalise and exoticise her. Kira’s arc moves from self-conscious uncertainty through to anger and rebellion and, finally, to a tentative embrace of self-expression as she learns to carry grief alongside hope. A particularly impressive element of this novella is its ability to transcend genre and reach multiple audiences; younger teen readers and adults can learn a lot from Kira’s voice and journey. The story ends not necessarily with a neat resolution but with complexity, where loss and acceptance are inseparable. Eggshell lingers because it resists simplification; it honours the layered experiences of adolescent diaspora with honesty and care, marking De Zilva (Plastic Budgie) as a striking new voice for readers of Alice Pung and Clare Atkin.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Emma Pei Yin is a British-born Hong Kong-Chinese writer, editor and author. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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