Tommy Cotton

Promises Tommy Cotton

'Year Twelve is the most important year of our life.'

'Getting a good ATAR is the key to your future.'

This is what Paddy Cowen has heard year in and year out from teachers and career counsellors since starting high school in Melbourne.

Paddy had a troubled childhood. His dad died in war before he knew him, he lost his best friend, and his mum got cancer. Scared and confused, he made a promise ...

Four years later, Paddy is about to begin Year Twelve, suffering from PTSD and bipolar disorder. Bullied and feeling pressure to attain a good ATAR, all he wants is to get through the year with a happy ending. This takes on a new meaning when he meets Ashi, a girl who seems bound to bring down the guard that Paddy keeps between himself and others. When he finds a journal written by his father hidden in his back shed, a chain of events is set in motion that will challenge everything Paddy thinks he knows about his life and the people closest to him.

Paddy will uncover family secrets, battle his mental illness and the pain in his past, experience the hardest loss, and have his will to keep a promise put to the ultimate test. He will begin to understand the complexity of human nature, while trying to find what truly matters to him.

In a year in which all most teenagers are just trying to earn a good ATAR, attain their licence, and plan a wild schoolies trip, the events that take place for Paddy will alter the course of his life forever.

Entering adulthood, Year Twelve will turn out be the most significant yet for Paddy Cowen, but it will have little to do with school.