The Vale Girl (Nelika McDonald, Pan Macmillan, August)

This impressive debut novel from Melbourne writer Nelika McDonald had me hooked from the beginning. Told through realistically drawn characters, this part thriller, part coming-of-age story revolves around 14-year-old Sarah Vale, the daughter of the town prostitute, who lives in Banville, a ‘quaint gold-rush town’ that ‘begins and ends at no discernible point in the middle of bloody nowhere’. Banville’s public and private faces tell vastly different stories—secrets and ugly truths lurk just beneath the surface and life here can be stifling. When Sarah disappears, no-one seems too concerned, except for her best friend Tommy, whose feelings for her have recently confusingly transformed into something much deeper. Tommy and the dedicated Sergeant Henson join forces to solve the case. With its detailed dissection of small-town life, attitudes and personalities, this is a novel about what binds people to place and what drives them to escape. It’s also about trying to find out where you fit while making sense of the world. Ultimately, though, it’s about love—finding it, losing it and regaining it. This is a story readers can emotionally invest in and it should appeal to older teens and adults.

Paula Grunseit is a freelance journalist, editor and reviewer