Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor
published by Pan Macmillan (2022)
Set in the fictitious outback Australian town named Durton- that is nicknamed 'Dirt Town' by its residents, this is a heart wrenching tale of friendships, deception and death.
When a little girl goes missing walking home from school on a sweltering Friday afternoon, the small town's illusion of safety is shattered. Friends and family start suspecting each other while hiding their own secrets. As a major investigation swings into action, the deep cracks running through the community are exposed.
For me, the best part about reading Australian fiction is the familiarity of the terms, slang and even names of retail chains. In this novel the author describes the dusty Australian outback and the close knit small town community vividly. She writes engagingly, grabbing the reader's attention and holding it with page turning suspense.
Hayley Scrivenor is also originally from a small Australian country town. 'Dirt Town' is her debut novel and an earlier version of the book was shortlisted for the Penguin Literary Prize and won the Kill Your Darlings Unpublished Manuscript Award.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Pra Jay
DeleteJust browsed through a post which was based on a conversation with Hayley. She says "My goal was that you could open the book to any page and know who was speaking, and that we would always be revolving around what had happened to Esther". Sounds like a thriller.
ReplyDeleteLotus- I feel that narrating a story through the voices of different characters is a fine art. Unless it is done seamlessly, the reader can get a bit dizzy with the instant changing of points of view. I personally prefer stories to not jump from narration to narration and have a smooth flow- because to be honest who would be opening a book from a random place and start reading from there- right? Anyway, Hayley has done a good job at this, mainly as the intricate individual stories within the story can't be narrated otherwise.
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