Nikki Gemmell is such an exquisite writer. I’m compelled to re-read, just to savour her unique style, use of uncommon adjectives, her turn of phrase and sentence structures.
The story is gripping from the start. A group of four girls and a male teacher from an elite girl’s school (Koongala) go missing in the mountains in the Australian bush.
These girls are no ordinary students. They are the ‘Cin’ girls, a gang of four who are bonded but totally unalike. Cinnamon (Cin) is the unofficial leader, a charismatic but rebellious girl-woman, Tamsin, willowy, an ice queen with wealthy parents, Willa, mixed-race and gorgeous and Elle, squarish and unattractive, the odd-bod of the group. Both students and teachers revere them. We are cleverly led through the story by the school principal who is Cin’s godmother, but this is kept secret at the school. This woman has carefully curated her appearance and lifestyle. She’s a state school kid who dazzled her way into Koongala and moulded these girls with her own version of gender politics. She believes that to be a single woman by choice and exhilarated by it, is a dangerous thing.
The girls return, one by one, but they are changed. It’s as though their collective spirit has been crushed. They claim they didn’t see their teacher, but other than that, they are not talking. He remains missing.
This is a story about difficult relationships; between mothers and daughters, friends, old and young, men and women, principals and parents. It’s about what it is to be a woman today and its a mesmerising read.
Reviewed by Sue Stanbridge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nikki Gemmell is the best-selling author of 13 novels and four works of non-fiction. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.
She was born in Wollongong, New South Wales and lived in London for many years, but has now returned to Australia. Her distinctive writing has gained her critical acclaim in France, where she’s been described as a ‘female Jack Kerouac’.
The French literary magazine Lire has included her in a list of what it called the 50 most important writers in the world – those it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. Her best-known work is the 2003 novel The Bride Stripped Bare, an explicit exploration of female sexuality. Gemmell pens a weekly column for The Australian newspaper. She also writes novels for children – the ‘Kensington Reptilarium’ series for 9 to 13 year olds, and the ‘Coco Banjo’ series for slightly younger readers.
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