The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
The author of the A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series is back with another gripping YA thriller.
Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished, leaving her one-year-old daughter Bel in the backseat of her car. Now eighteen, Bel has no memory of that day, and nobody has any idea what happened to Rachel. But when a film crew begin making a documentary about the disappearance, Rachel suddenly returns, claiming that she was kidnapped by a stranger and released just days ago. As her family adjusts to having Rachel back after over a decade, Bel struggles to accept her mother’s reappearance. Something about Rachel’s story doesn’t add up, and Bel is determined to find out what.
An absolute page-turner full of twists and turns, family drama, and a teen sleuth who won’t take no for an answer. – Nethmi
Water, Water by Carey Fagan
Water, Water follows Rafe and his dog buddy who have woken up one morning in their bedroom to find out they are floating in a flooded world. Rafe encounters a lady playing her cello on a door raft, teenage pirates looking to plunder his resources and a young Thai girl drifting on a blow up mattress with her beloved cat – the only other people seemingly alive in this endless sea. Rafe must learn responsibility, resourcefulness and fortitude to endure this dreamlike, unknowable ocean.
A hopeful climate dystopia about displacement and grief but very accessible for younger readers with a little peril and a lot of heart, brought to life with gorgeous blue monochromatic illustrations. – Soffi
The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner
First published in 1984, and recently reissued (alongside two other works), The Children’s Bach has left me reeling as to why I’d never read Helen Garner before. Known as ‘the Australian Joan Didion’, and a genuine literary institution in Australia, but for some reason Helen is much lesser known here in the UK. I sincerely hope that’s about to change.
The Children’s Bach follows a complicated set of characters in 80s Melbourne – Dexter and Athena who are seemingly happy navigating their suburban family life with their two sons. Then in comes a friend from Dexter’s past with a cohort of companions that open their eyes to another way of living – one without routine or constraints, where freedom and abandon seems somehow possible.
It feels like the kind of novel that deserves to be studied. At just under 200 pages long, there is so much to unpick, to read between the lines – so many hard-to-swallow human truths that feels reminiscent of the likes of Elizabeth Strout. And oh, what an exquisite ending! – Emma