A beautiful Australian story of young love and loss. A town full of secrets that it buries to show a front of perfection and beauty, but one that cracks easily until it’s all in the open. Silvey does a wonderful job of putting coming of age and comprehending the harsh reality of the world into words.

The first half of this book was 3 stars and the second half was 4 stars for me. 

First of all, the tension throughout this book was fantastic, I was so engrossed in the mystery and intent on finding out what had happened in a way that I don’t usually experience in stories such as these. Whilst having themes of racial injustice, this book also manages to tackle the ignorance and yet blinding truth of youth, the depth of love in relationships with friends, a partner and parents, and the guilt associated with our own limitations. I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I was going to and am so glad I decided to buy it in a whim one day!

I liked Charlie’s reflections on life, and the twists he and Jasper encountered as they looked for answers. 

Had to read this for school it was an okay book, but it was really slow place and hard to get into.  When it finally got interesting it didn’t last more then a few pages and got boring again.