The narrator of this novel is a dead girl talking to the reader in the second person. She tells you that a mistake has been made, false impressions of her told. Then she tells you her story, the truth, and I thoroughly recommend that you sit back and let her.

Alice arrives in New York. It is obvious that she has never been in a city like this before. The city, the sounds and sights, the hustle and bustle are all initially overwhelming. Alice tells you she has never seen streets so wide. The fact that Alice has only lived in a small town is tacitly implied.

Alice is running away from something. She declares that she will never let a man make her cry again. Alice’s mother also ran away to New York, away from a father who used to beat her. Alice is determined to not follow her path, never retrace her footsteps. Alice’s father is a semi-famous photographer who told her mother he loved her, just not as much as his rich wife in the Hamptons.

Alice is running away not just from something but from somebody. Somebody who ‘owned’ her. Someone she belonged to. Alice waits until she was 18 to run away. No longer a minor in the eyes of the law, she is free. However, Alice’s long-term plans are not so great.

Ruby Jones is 36 and lost in life, achingly alone, pining for a man who is marrying another. She arrives in New York at the same time as Alice, leaving an empty life in Melbourne. Ruby is the one who finds Alice’s body, broken and shattered on the rocks where she runs.

What happened? Well, you will just have to listen to Alice tell you her story.

A stellar debut.

Reviewed by Neale Lucas