If your expectations of the ‘young adult’ genre of literature extend little distance beyond surly emo vampires in love, or the adventures of pubescent boy wizards, your attention should be turned to this, a solid, if not sensational debut effort from American author Marisa Reichardt

The central premise behind the startlingly well-constructed young adult novel Under Water is the after-effects of a school shooting in the United States. The central protagonist is in the process of coping with the unending problems befalling the life of a teenager, except she was one of the survivors, and is consequentially traumatised by the memories, and ensuing survivor’s guilt. There’s a sickening undercurrent to the social context which places this material in all-too-believable terrain; in that it’s happened just that frequently that there may be, by all accounts, an industry borne of it; dealing entirely in support mechanisms. This seems to be a sizeable enough plague of trauma that an entire sub-genre could be developed telling the tales of its membership.

It’s a tragic state of affairs, rendered all the more tragic by the American body politic being too dogmatic to ensure that nothing will ever change.

Thematically rich material is a godsend when it comes to books for teenagers, and someone who speaks as a former high school English teacher can testify that such things are as rare as good similes in reviews. But Reichart’s work is set in a world – the mind’s eye – of a young girl who came face-to-face with terror and survived. And the brutal truth of this matter is that it’s all-too-prevalent.

The book touches on notions of guilt, survival, forgiveness, family, recovery, and the ensuing pressures of grief. Our heroine, Morgan, has to learn to allow herself to love again in the process – as if being traumatised wasn’t enough, now the young, hot Hawaiian surfer dude wants to get all up in her scene. It’s all really quite lovely in that respect. The key is that it’s the kind of book that the targeted young adults could relate to on almost every level.

I can heartily recommend this book if there is a teenager in your life; I would likewise recommend secondary schools pick it up and place it in their English curriculum. It’s a great debut, and as good a young adult novel as you’re likely to read.