A stunning new voice on the Australian crime writing scene

What do we owe the girl who isn’t there?

A small town in rural NSW is sweating through its hottest November in decades when twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi disappears on her way home from school.

Sydney Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels leads the search, but no-one is more determined than Esther’s best friend Veronica to find Esther and bring her home.

The story of a missing girl unfolds through the eyes of four people: her determined best friend; a grieving mother; a no-nonsense, gay, female cop; and a boy who knows more than he is saying. The narrative is punctuated by a Greek chorus: a disembodied collective that gives voice to the remaining children of a dying town.

This book explores the ties that bind, the people that hold us up, and those that drag us down.