Set in Corrigan, a small Western Australian town in the 1960’s 13 year old protagonist Charlie finds himself dragged into a mystery surrounding the disappearance of the local mayor’s daughter. As the mystery unfolds so do the secrets of the town and slowly it is revealed that behind closed doors all is not as it seems. Silvey explores many themes in this novel, small town bigotry, prejudice, relationships and marital problems, as well as a bit of teenage romance. It is also a coming of age novel with many literary references to Mark Twain the father of the adolescent adventure story. Although a little predictable this is still punchy, well written Australian literature. I loved it!
