Emma Lord's "Anomaly" teachers' review

Brief description and distinctive features

Brief description of Anomaly

Anomaly opens on an isolated farm with only a teenager and a dog present. Events and facts are gradually revealed through the first person narrative of Piper Manning. She is resourceful and brave; she makes mistakes but keeps struggling with her problems. There has been an epidemic and people have died in their millions all over the world. Piper, after a traumatic event in her life, was staying with her aunt Jules. The reader learns that the aunt has died of the disease. It emerges that Piper had it as well but recovered with some scary after-effects that mean she has a power she has difficulty controlling. She is running out of food and with her aunt’s dog, Griff, she goes foraging at a nearby house. The pantry is full and Piper is on her way back with supplies when she finds a near-dead stranger called Seth by the side of the lake. He has clearly been attacked. She rescues him, dragging him back to her house. As Seth recovers (very rapidly) he tells her about the Reapers, aliens who feed on humans’ minds, and either kill their prey or leave them as a ‘shell’, to endlessly play the loop of their worst memories. A Reaper soon attacks the house and somehow, together, they destroy him. Seth, who appears to know a great deal about the aliens, says they must find a place where survivors gather. He explains the Reapers are connected and will be following them. There are trust issues between the two teenagers as Piper does not reveal her powers and Seth does not disclose his origins. As well there are early indications of romantic interest between them. They set out, find another teenager Frankie, escape a group of Reapers and destroy some of them and finally find the survivors’ camp. Or rather they are detained by guards from the camp. They discover that the doctor they thought could help them is experimenting on survivors, who have anomalies like Piper. As a phalanx of Reapers prepare to attack the community Piper’s new powers could make the difference.

Distinctive features of Anomaly

• YA Dystopian novel with opportunities to explore and challenge the usual tropes of a variety of genres
• Memories and events swirl throughout novel as the narrative dips back and forth in the first person narrative of Piper
• Flashbacks are indicted with a year and month chapter heading in the otherwise chronological narrative; sections which represent Piper’s worst memories and connecting alien thoughts are italicised
• Characterisation is vivid and engaging with Piper Manning as the protagonist and an equally strong role for Seth, the mysterious stranger who seems to know so much about the invading Reapers
• Memory, grief and trauma are interconnected in this well plotted novel
• The Australian landscape comes alive with lyrical descriptions that juxtapose with the horror and terror of the aliens’ presence
• Dialogue is fresh, peppered with black humour as issues of trust and truth and trauma are revealed and explored
• The pace is relentless; the ferocity of some of the events in this novel and the occasional strong language, mark it for older readers in Years 9 and 10.

Ways to use Anomaly in the classroom

Ask students to plot the clues

Anomaly is a thriller. There are clues scattered throughout the novel to help the reader predict what might happen next. They become much more apparent on a second reading.  As you read through the novel keep alert for those clues as they start from page 1 with the melted truck battery.   Keep asking yourself what happened to Piper to make her so very afraid even before she met a reaper? Check in with other members of your group as you read up a storm.  

Class discussion on hybridity in genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic

Emma Lord described her book as “It’s a YA sci-fi thriller set in post-apocalyptic Australia. It’s about a young woman dealing with her inner demons while being hunted down by actual monsters.” It's a great description to set you off on a genre challenge hunt to find the different and overlapping characteristics of genre in this novel.

Speculative fiction is a broad term for a genre usually associated with settings other than the real world with futuristic or imaginative elements. This definition encompasses science fiction and fantasy genres including Science Fiction, Horror, Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic genres.

Anomaly has some classic conventional elements of the science fiction genre e.g.

• Mind control, telepathy, and telekinesis 
• Aliens, extra-terrestrial lifeforms
• Space travel and exploration 
• Interplanetary warfare 
• Parallel universes 
• Fictional worlds 
• Time travel  
• Alternative histories 
• Speculative technology 
• Super-intelligent computers and robots

Science Fiction films/novels include Dune, The Martian, Foundation, Avatar, The Hunger Games and Arrival.

Anomaly also has aspects of the Horror genre. Its conventions revolve around 

• Fear
• Being at the mercy of monsters – human or otherwise
• Protagonists who usually wants to defeat the monster to save themselves and others.

Famous horror films include Alien and The Shining. 

Dystopian films/ novels usually involve 

• an imaginary place where life is horrible because of terror or oppression.
• People are under constant surveillance and have a fear of the outside world.
• The dystopian protagonist often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.

Famous dystopian fiction/films include Nineteen Eighty-four, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World. 

Post Apocalyptic films/novels usually involve 

• Extinction level events caused by nuclear warfare, epidemics, extraterrestrial attacks etc
• The collapse of civilisation and societal reconstruction
• The survival of a few and their new society.

Famous Post Apocalyptic film/fiction includes: The Road, Mad Max, Children of Men. 

Task
As you read Anomaly, note down what conventional elements of Science fiction, Dystopian, Horror, and Post-Apocalyptic fiction (four often related genres) are present in the novel.  Also note down textual support for the ideas of

• Loss 
• Survival 
• Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Family 
• Resilience. 

A sequel task 

In an interview Emma Lord was asked what inspired the dystopian world of Anomaly. She replied that the world of Anomaly took on a new dimension once she fixed on an Australian setting. “Our landscapes are unique and beautiful and hostile and haunting – all at the same time. What better place for a post-apocalyptic monster invasion to play out?” It appears from the last line in the novel that Piper and Seth might be taking the story off earth to another or a parallel universe to continue the war against the Reapers.  Use your imagination and your knowledge of the novel and its characters to write a synopsis for the new story.  Remember the real sequel should be coming out in 2026. 

Wide reading in speculative fiction

Challenge yourself to read more widely in this genre and select TWO works of fiction from the list at the end of this blog to read or watch and share your responses with the class.

Relevant details in relation to the new NSW English 7-10 syllabus

Text requirements: Anomaly is a novel (extended prose) by an Australian author and it includes a range of cultural, social and gender perspectives, including from popular and youth cultures.
Pair this text with resources from our Year 11 texts and study guides and Year 9 texts and study guides for a deeper study program.

Relevant NSW English 7-10 Syllabus content

Reading, viewing and listening to texts

A student uses a range of personal, creative and critical strategies to interpret complex texts EN5-RVL-01

Reading for challenge, interest and enjoyment

• Read increasingly complex texts that challenge thinking, pique interest, enhance enjoyment and provoke a personal response
• Engage in sustained and varied reading that presents increasingly diverse and complex perspectives and experiences, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, and respond in a range of ways, including through extended written responses
• Consider how the social, cultural and ethical positions represented in texts represent, affirm or challenge views of the world
• Evaluate experiences of reading by sharing responses to texts
• Evaluate the ways reading texts help us understand ourselves and make connections to others and the world

Understanding and responding to texts A

A student analyses how meaning is created through the use and interpretation of increasingly complex language forms, features and structures EN5-URA-01

Characterisation

• Analyse how engaging, dynamic and complex characters are constructed in texts using language features and structures, and use these features and structures in own texts
• Explore how characters in texts can be lifelike constructions with whom audiences establish intellectual and emotional connections, and can be perceived to reflect, challenge or subvert particular values and attitudes
• Analyse how characters can serve structural roles in narrative, such as foils and drivers of action and conflict, and manipulate these ideas when composing own texts

Narrative

• Analyse how narrative conventions vary across genres, modes, media and contexts and how they can be used to represent ideas and values and shape responses, and apply this understanding in own texts
• Explore how narratives can represent and shape personal and shared identities, values and experiences

Understanding and responding to texts B

A student evaluates how texts represent ideas and experiences, and how they can affirm or challenge values and attitudes EN5-URB-01

Style

• Analyse how the distinctive aesthetic qualities and stylistic features of a text can shape and be shaped by its purpose, and experiment with this in own texts
• Evaluate how particular styles in text can be privileged according to context
• Examine the way an author’s distinct personal style shapes meaning in their work
• Appreciate how the style of a text can represent larger ideas of literary movements and genres
   

Understanding and responding to texts C

A student investigates and explains ways of valuing texts and the relationships between them EN5-URC-01

Genre 

• Analyse how elements of genre in texts can shape the way ideas and values are represented and perceived, and experiment with elements of genre in own texts to shape meaning and response
• Reflect on the evolution, adaptation, subversion and hybridity of genre in different time periods and cultural contexts, and how they demonstrate changing values

Expressing ideas and composing texts A

A student crafts personal, creative and critical texts for a range of audiences by experimenting with and controlling language forms and features to shape meaning EN5-ECA-01

Writing 

• Select and adapt appropriate codes, conventions and structures to shape meaning when composing written texts that are analytical, informative, persuasive, discursive and/or imaginative
• Develop a personal and informed voice that generates ideas and positions an audience through selection of appropriate word-level language and text-level features
• Experiment with language to create tone, atmosphere and mood
• Use rhetorical language strategically and subtly to shape complex ideas and convince others of a point of view, as appropriate to audience and purpose
• Use tense accurately and purposefully
• Apply narrative voice to depict complex ideas and enhance engagement
• Create engaging and authentic temporal and spatial settings for a range of purposes and audiences

(English K-10 Syllabus 2022 © NSW Education Standards Authority for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2023) 

Connecting texts