Cirrus@Austlit

'It's always been just Beth and her mother Theo. Until Beth is sixteen years old, and a stranger arrives in their small coastal town - a stranger with a claim that rips apart all Beth knows. And what do you do when everything you thought you knew about yourself is based on a lie? In a deeply affecting story that challenges our notions of maternal love, Nelika McDonald examines the myriad ways that love is forged and tempered over years and how fiercely it is defended.' (Publication summary)

'"If you leave no trace, nobody could say later whether you were even there at all."

'Fourteen-year-old Sarah Vale has gone missing in the small town of Banville. She's the daughter of the town whore so no one seems particularly concerned.'

'No one cares except Tommy Johns, who loves Sarah Vale with all the unadulterated, tentative passion of a teenage boy. He galvanises the town's policeman Sergeant Henson and, together, they turn the town inside out, searching for the lost girl.'

'A delicate and layered exploration of secrets and lies, forgotten children and absent parents, and the long shadows of the past.'

'An extraordinary debut from a talented new writer.' (Publisher's blurb)