The Nowhere Child
Christian White
Affirm Press
ISBN: 9781925584523
Description:
‘Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.’
On a break between teaching photography classes, Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger investigating the disappearance of a little girl from her Kentucky home twenty-eight years earlier. He believes she is that girl.
At first Kim brushes it off, but when she scratches the surface of her family background in Australia, questions arise that aren’t easily answered. To find the truth, she must travel to Sammy’s home of Manson, Kentucky, and into a dark past. As the mystery unravels and the town’s secrets are revealed, this superb novel builds towards a tense, terrifying, and entirely unexpected climax.
Inspired by Gillian Flynn’s frenetic suspense and Stephen King’s masterful world-building, The Nowhere Child is a combustible tale of trauma, cult, conspiracy and memory. It is the remarkable debut of Christian White, an exhilarating new Australian talent attracting worldwide attention.
My View:
Fabulous read!
Debut novelists and their novels are often a risk; you don’t know anything about their writing, good, bad or indifferent. You often do not know any one else who has read the book to get a personal recommendation. You open the page totally without any expectations other than hoping that this will indeed be a great read, become your next must read author.
Take a risk! There is so much talent waiting for you to discover. I have just added Christian White to my “must read authors” list. Christian has written a book that is subtle yet thought provoking. He has a written a book that is intriguing, engaging and demands to be read in one sitting. Listen to those demands; clear your calendar, turn off the TV and immerse yourself in this stunning narrative. You will thank me for the recommendation, I have just lessened your risk.
PS I predict awards for this book.
Oh I can’t wait! A really excellent review Carol.
Thanks Amanda – this is an author whose star is rising – rapidly .
Great review! I just finished reading this last week 🙂
Thanks Tracey – hasn’t been a great year for Aussie writers – so many great reads thus far.
Do you mean has or hasn’t been a great year? It’s been a great year for the Aussie writers I’ve been reading this year 🙂 Hangman by Jack Heath, The Peacock Summer by Hannah Richell, The Yellow House by Emily O’Grady and Scrublands by Chris Hammer a few of the highlights for me so far.
Opps missed the it in hasn’t it been a great year😀
Thought it must have been a typo, I know you’ve been enjoying plenty this year too.
My “best of” list this year will be huge – in fact I should start listing now so I don’t miss any .
Yes, it’s going to be a hell of a Top 5 list for me too this year. Great to have so many 5 star reads so far this year, although I’ve had my fair share of duds too.
Thankfully just the odd dud here 😀
That’s an impressive list of highlights.
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