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The Nowhere Child

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Two-year-old Sammy Went lived with her mother and father, sister Emma and brother Stuart – three days after her second birthday, Sammy vanished. Even with the dedicated search which went for weeks; the police called from areas surrounding the small town of Manson, Kentucky; Sammy was never seen again – the case was never solved.

Twenty-eight years later, in Melbourne, Australia, Kim Leamy was enjoying a break from her classes when a stranger approached her. In that instant Kim’s life changed and everything she’d believed about herself and her family were shattered. Questions she asked of her step-father couldn’t be answered to Kim’s satisfaction; her mother had passed away four years previously, so Kim couldn’t ask her anything. So Kim decided on the only thing she could think of – she boarded a plane for the United States, and Manson in Kentucky, hoping for answers.

But the past was a dark place with many secrets. Perhaps it would be better if Kim went back to Australia – forgot the last few weeks? But she couldn’t. Kim knew there was something; she knew she needed to know to be able to find a measure of peace once again…

Well wow! I didn’t see THAT twist coming!!! The Nowhere Child is Aussie author Christian White’s debut novel and absolutely ticks all the boxes of a psychological thriller! With its chapters alternating between "then" and "now", The Nowhere Child is littered with a cult, evil, innocence and a harrowing loss. Well-written characters and an intriguing plot make this exceptional read one I highly recommend – and I’ll be looking out for White’s next novel.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.

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An intriguing and compelling read from start to finish. I could not put this book down. I had to find out what came next. The characters are believable and interesting. The twists and turns in the plot are beguiling. The mysteries that are presented are gripping; while the book eventually comes to a satisfying climax. I highly recommend this book for lovers of mystery, intrigue, murder and who dunnits.

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This is the story that could have happened to anyone of us. Every one of us could have been lost and found or never found. Any child could have been taken to be tortured or taken to be saved as in the case of The Nowhere Child.

Reading this book one constant thought niggled at my brain: we have it easy. I have it easy. All the teenage angst, all the pain and conflict of living in the broken family an adapting to step-father, all the moving and changing schools, all the operations and bullying at school - are nothing comparing to what kids went through this tiny, quiet and peaceful town of Manson. 

Reaching from the States to Australia, from tiny Manson to metropolis of Melbourne, this story stretches distances, time and mind. The Nowhere Child will make parents re-think their parenting, kids to re-think their rebellion and everyone question their own priorities when it comes to 'you did me wrong'.

Christian White created a very believable situation, environment and characters. The only 'not so good' note would be Emma, the teenage older sister. Teenagers do no speak like she does. They do not philosophize and rationalize as she does. And then, if she was so smart at 13 why did she end up where she did? This bit was a bit off.

The rest of the book, including snakes and crazy preacher, read as one word. I finished this book quite quickly as I wanted to see how it all ends.

Happy end? In a way. Have a read for yourself.

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Thanks I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Great story line, interesting characters who seem to get more interesting the more you read.

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How would you feel if you found out that everything you believed about your family was a lie? Shocked? Confused? Betrayed? Perhaps all of those, and more. When a stranger turns up on Kim Leamy’s doorstep in Melbourne, telling her that he has reason to believe that she might be Sammy Went, a little girl who disappeared at the age of two from her home in Manson, Kentucky, never to be seen again, she dismisses it as a bad joke at first. However, her mother has recently passed away, and there are some niggling questions about her childhood Kim cannot answer. As evidence mounts, Kim knows that there is only one way to find out – to go to America herself and retrace Sammy’s last steps.

Am I the only one that finds skeletons in family closets simply irresistible? As soon as I heard the premise of this novel, I knew that I had to read it. Perhaps because my own mother died when I was a child, and there are so many questions I will now never know the answer to. So I fully “got” Kim’s confusion and frustration, and her need to find out the truth – as shocking as it may turn out to be. Because what can be more confronting than finding out that your parents may not be who they have claimed to be, and that you may have a whole other family in another country – a family who gave you up for dead twenty-eight years ago! White doesn’t leave it at that, he also throws in some interesting plot twists and settings that added something unique to this story. The “then” and “now” timeline lets us explore the events that led to little Sammy’s disappearance, and finally give us the answer to Kim’s many questions – though they may not be what you had expected.

I admit that despite its intriguing premise, I had a few issues with being able to connect to the characters, which made me feel a little less invested in the mystery than I had hoped. A couple of POVs felt unnecessary to me, stalling the story and distracting from the main narrative, although other readers may disagree. Personally, I found I wished for a bit more suspense, as all the right foundations had been laid and were there for the taking, but never totally paid off for me and I felt my interest waning a few times as the story digressed from its main focus. That said, The Nowhere Child was a quick and entertaining read that kept me turning the pages, and although it did not raise goosebumps, the final denouement was satisfying and held a few surprises in store. All in all it should appeal to lovers of mysteries that are based around dysfunctional family dynamics, and those readers who like a somewhat unusual setting (you will know what I mean when you read it). The Nowhere Child is White’s debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from this author in future – with his self-professed passion for true crime podcasts, there may be some more interesting stories coming our way soon!

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The fact that is Christian White's debut novel astounded me. His writing is superb, so I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for his future works.

The Nowhere Child was told using two defined timelines, both the past and the present. These were meticulously interwoven and in no way did the story feel disorientating or disconnected. The flow was simply sublime.

This is the story of Kim Leamy, who is told that at the age of two she disappeared and her original name was Sammy Went. Kin is disbelieving of this information and begins to conduct her own investigation to uncover the truth. The story is often predictable, however there were numerous twists that were unexpected and kept my interest at a high level.

An exception debut story and a recommended read.

Read and Reviewed for Reading Is Our Satisfaction

FOUR STARS

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I thoroughly enjoyed this story, much more than I thought I would. The alternating of the past and present stories set in both Melbourne and the US were equally as engaging and the way the author threaded them together was quite amazing. The ending was well executed and I was literally taken by surprise. The author did a great job of moving the story forward at a decent pace to keep you wanting more. I almost forgot the author was male as he did get his female characters down pat. To find out this book is Christian White’s debut is impressive and he will definitely be a name to look out for in future.

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This was a compulsive read that grabbed me from the beginning as Kim begins to try and find out what happened to the little girl Sammy and why the stranger believes that she is that girl. The atmosphere of the Southern town of Manson is vividly described and the reader is taken into the home of the Went family, its problems and the deep religious beliefs of the Went mother. The religious cult of snake handling is explored in detail that is quite disturbing. It makes the story darker and more fascinating than many other mystery thrillers that are available.
Not for the faint hearted, The nowhere child will have readers on the edge of their seats as Kim traces step by step the journey that Sammy Went undertook. There are plenty of red herrings to lead the reader astray and the final denouement is chilling and unexpected.

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The Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award has been discovering some of Australia’s favourite authors. Some recent recipients include Jane Harper’s The Dry and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project. So when Christian White’s manuscript titled Decay Theory picked up the award in 2017, publishers sat up and took notice. And for goods reason. Now renamed the more catchy The Nowhere Child, White’s novel is an assured crime thriller with a well constructed mystery at its heart.

The hook for The Nowhere Child comes early and hits hard and sustains any bumps in the narrative. In Melbourne, 30 year-old photography teacher Kim Leamy is approached by an American stranger. He tells her that she is actually Sammy Went, abducted as a two-year old from her home in the small town on Manson, Kentucky 28 years before. This mystery of how a two year old American girl ended up in suburban Melbourne in 1990, living a seemingly normal, well adjusted life, unravels slowly in chapters alternating between 1990 and the present day. Kim’s mother died four years before, taking her secrets with her and her stepfather, who had come on the scene after she was born, knows something but is not talking. Kim ends up flying to America to find some answers.

There is so much to like about this book. Kim is a completely believable, conflicted character. Torn between the life she had and the secrets that seem to have kept Kim from her biological family. But she is confronted when she starts to meet members of that family and discovers some of their secrets. Those secrets are tangled with a bizarre Pentecostal sect called the Church of the Light Within in which members find connection with god by handling, dancing with and often being bitten by rattlesnakes. Exploration of this sect provides a dark undercurrent and links to some recent media about conversion therapies and exorcism.

The Nowhere Child is an assured, page-turning debut. White has a background as a screenwriter and his confidence in developing character and plot show in the narrative. He makes the most of his Australian in a foreign land conceit without labouring the issue. And the solution to the mystery manages to be nail-biting (in a bit of a contrived, shout at the page, crime-fiction kind of way), satisfying and heartbreaking.

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What a fabulous read I was hooked from the beginning to end and to add to my delight Aussie humour came filtering through (sometimes a mystery to those from other countries). The story crosses over two time zones, two countries and two completely different ways of life. All the elements are there, suspense, love, hate, murder and to top it off a bit of weird religious fundamentals. Kim on the whole has a pretty ordinary life with a close knit family who together are still trying to recover from the death of their mother. That is until one day a stranger from another country turns Kim’s world upside down telling her that he believes she isn’t who she thinks she is and that he knows her real identity, that of a small child called Sammy who disappeared from the family home from the other side of the world, a small town in USA! Patrick becomes Dean, who isn’t Kim’s father and unlawful as his role has been, is Sammy’s/Kim’s protector. His personality seems to change when Patrick than the thoughtful and delightfully eccentric philosophical Dean, a personality probably developed over the course of reinventing himself.

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‘Mind if I join you?’

Kim Leamy is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. She’s taking a break between classes when she’s approached by a stranger. He shows her a photograph:

‘Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.’

He says that he is investigating the disappearance of Sammy Went from her home in Kentucky twenty-eight years earlier. He believes that Kim is Sammy. Kim believes that he is mistaken, but when she starts looking into her family background she finds that some questions can’t be easily answered. Kim has happy memories of her childhood with loving parents. But she can find no photographs of herself as a baby. Curious and in search of the truth, Kim travels to Manson, Kentucky to find out more about Sammy. What she discovers is a twisted mess of secrets, of conspiracy, involving a religious cult.

While some aspects of this story are predictable, there are a few twists which I did not expect. Those twists kept me turning the pages and kept me in suspense until very close to the end of the novel. This is Mr White’s debut novel. I hope that it is the first of many.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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Here you are coming up to 30 years of age and you think you have your life together, you are teaching photography, have a place of your own and a loving family. Then one day a male stranger sits down in front of you and says, ‘you are my long lost sister who disappeared over 28 years ago.’ Well, that would certainly turn your life upside down and that is exactly what happens to Kimberly Leamy. For Kim has to know the truth and leaves Australia to head back to Manson, USA to discover the truth about who she is.
White has crafted an intriguing mystery thriller that keeps throwing doubts and suspicions on a cast of fascinating characters. The story is told via switching from ‘now’ to ‘then’ as you learn about the events surrounding Sammy’s disappearance and Kim’s attempts to learn about her past. From the outset, you are quickly absorbed into this fast-paced novel. The writing is crisp, descriptive and creates an atmosphere that is unsettling at times.
Kim is a character whose life is in turmoil and reacts by being erratic, unsure and in a state of emotional flummox. Not knowing why she was taken from her family and why her mother may have done it creates a toll and White aptly captures her distress. I really liked that Kim is not rational or calm as she tries to figure out what is going on. It makes her as the hero of the story likeable, flawed and empathetic.
The supporting cast of characters move in and out of Kim’s life. It would be easy to make the characters stereotypical but White is able to give each one depth and imperfections. All of them have hopes and dreams that are stifled by the attitudes of small town living.
As a debut novel, White has made an impressive foray with a taut thriller that is absorbing and will keep you turning over the pages until you reach the end. A terrific read.

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Wow! What a page turner! Hard to believe that this is a first novel from Christian White. Held me captive from the first page with dark secrets unravelling one by one as Kim, a part time photography teacher at night school, finds herself playing the lead role in a bizarre past of which she has no memory. Beautifully written, totally believable, frighteningly voyeuristic. Loved it!

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4 1/2 Star Review......

The Nowhere Child was my first read by Christian White, and it's definitely a thoroughly intriguing and gripping book. Packed with mystery, suspense and all things needed for a great “who dun it?”, I was engrossed in the story from the very beginning and right through until the end.

The writing style was easy to follow, with exceptional world building and great characterisations too. It’s not easy to cross the pond and accurately describe the landscape of two very different countries and the natives that live within, but Mr White has managed this and more.

The Nowhere Child is a must for lovers of a truly suspenseful tale, and I’m sure we as readers will be seeing much more from this accomplished writer in the future.

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Christian White's debut novel won the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. That's a big recommendation, considering the phenomenal success of previous winners such as The Rosie Project and The Dry, so I was eager to read this one.

Kim Leamy is a Melbourne photographer who teaches at the local TAFE. One day she is accosted by an American man who insists that she is his long-lost sister, who disappeared when she was two years old. Initially dismissive, Kim is gradually convinced that there is something to this, and travels with him to the USA to come to grips with this strange gap in her past.

The story unfolds with two parallel arcs telling of Sammy's disappearance and the subsequent investigation, along with a present-day narrative about Kim digging into her past, and what she finds. Personally I found the arc dealing with the crime more interesting and engaging than the arc set in the present. There are some clever twists in the plot, but not entirely unanticipated. I did think that the final act was a bit weak and far-fetched, but i still think that this is a very good crime novel.

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Imagine the unthinkable. Then imagine it has happened to you.
But each time things seem to have reached rock bottom, they get even worse.
Don't begin this book unless you are prepared for a lot of very bad stuff, if you let yourself think about it it will haunt you. I had to do a lot of skimming, & even then I feel my mind needs cleansing. There is a case for books having warning labels, just like films.

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** I received an eARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

This book was a brilliantly addictive read. We meet Kim Leamy, a part time TAFE lecturer who is approached by an American accountant who claims she is in fact Sammy Went, a girl who went missing in 1990, when she was just two years old. He confronts her with overwhelming evidence of this, namely a DNA test which shows a 98% probability that she is in fact his sister.

The story unfolds in dual timelines and we are shown events that happened in the aftermath of Sammy's disappearance and also what is happening now.

I absolutely loved how the author managed to keep me hanging on and needing to know what happened next and what the character's motives were. The author is Australian so that also made it something I was excited to read.

There is a huge religious element to this story (a religion that is more like a cult), which plays a huge role in the events of the story and I thought it was done really well.

The writing was fantastic. There were no unnecessary descriptions or tedious wording choices at all. I did notice a couple missing/wrong words but it didn't take away from the story for me at all.

I'll definitely be buying a physical copy when it's released in June!

I'd recommend to anyone, a seasoned mystery/thriller reader or a newbie. This story was just brilliant. Thank you to Hachette Australia and Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book!

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The Nowhere Child is quite an accomplished debut by Australian author Christian White. It is a mystery revolving around the disappearance of a two-year-old girl.

Kim Leamy is a 30-year-old photography teacher at a TAFE college in Melbourne, Australia. One evening she is approached by an American man who tells her that he believes that she is a child who disappeared from her family home in Manson, Kentucky, USA, some 28 years earlier. Dubious but intrigued, Kim starts to investigate her own roots and is quickly convinced that she is indeed the missing child; Sammy Went.

These revelations occur very early on in The Nowhere Child; in fact, Kim’s conversation with American stranger is the very first conversation she has in the book. This means that we learn very little about Kim before she starts questioning her own identity. At first, I wanted to know a little more about Kim before this stranger lays this shocking bit of information on her, but we got to know Kim, and her stepfather, Dean, and sister, Amy, pretty quickly, and it wasn’t long before that minor quibble was forgotten.

Kim is soon on a plane to the USA with the American who turns out to be her long lost brother, Stuart. They arrive in the American northeast and begin a road trip to Manson, along the way meeting Sammy’s sister, Emma, and eventually her mother Molly.

The story of Sammy Went unfolds in two timelines; one in the present following Kim and told in the first person from Kim’s perspective; the other in 1990 in the days before and after Sammy’s disappearance. The historical timeline is told in the third person and primarily follows the story from the perspectives of four people; Emma; Sammy’s father, Jack; Sheriff Chester Ellis; and the Went family’s neighbour, Travis Eckles. The historical timeline quickly establishes itself as the more interesting of the two as Kim’s investigation, while not exactly plodding, doesn’t really move at breakneck pace either. The historical timeline deals directly with Sammy’s disappearance and the subsequence search; it’s effect on the community and ultimate fracture of the Went family. It also features a rich cast of characters including, as well the four mentioned earlier, Stuart, Emma, Travis’ mother, Ava, his brother, Patrick, and members of a Pentecostal fundamentalist church called the Church of the Light Within; Reverend Dale Creech and his sister Becky.

The characters are a particular strength of the book. Most of them are engaging and their actions, and reactions, have the ring of truth. The exception is probably Emma, at least the current timeline version of her, who seems just a little too accepting of the return of her sister, though her subsequent actions may provide an explanation for that. Chester Ellis, meanwhile, provides a heartfelt grounding to the whole story, similar in some ways to the Jim Hopper character in Stanger Things, and is probably the character I related to the most. And his efforts to get into the local dating scene provide a few moments of welcome levity.

The Nowhere Child is, for the most part, pretty well written, though Mr White certainly does like his hyphens, and this does lead to some awkward sentences. For example;

‘Call it denial or blind hope, but Emma believed strongly that whoever had Sammy at that moment – and someone did have her, she didn’t wander off into the woods and get lost – would be taking care of her.’

And;

‘Remembering the rich colours of my childhood garden – the greens, reds, pinks and, most of all, the bright-purple deadnettles below my bedroom window – I almost added, My mother, on the other hand, had about the greenest thumb you could imagine.’

The book is littered with sentences like this and I did find it a little annoying after a while.

White has, though, put together a very well structured plot with enough teases and revelations to keep you hooked until the end. The threads of the story fall into place slowly and the revelations in the two timelines are brought together very well. No little titbit of information is wasted, such as Molly’s reference to ‘instincts’ in one timeline and the significance of the reference in the other.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed this book and I hope that it turns out to be the success that many seem to be predicting it will. I would love to see it realised on the big screen.

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Unravelling the mystery about what happened to Sammy West was a compulsive read. Going between now and then was excellent and helped to unfold the mystery. I really enjoyed this book.

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Brief synopsis from the book cover:
Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.’

On a break between teaching photography classes, Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger investigating the disappearance of a little girl from her Kentucky home twenty-eight years earlier. He believes she is that girl.

At first Kim brushes it off, but when she scratches the surface of her family background in Australia, questions arise that aren’t easily answered. To find the truth, she must travel to Sammy’s home of Manson, Kentucky, and into a dark past. As the mystery unravels and the town’s secrets are revealed, this superb novel builds towards a tense, terrifying, and entirely unexpected climax.

Story: 5 out of 5 stars
Writing: 5 out of 5 stars
Character development: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars

Review:
Addictive, I couldn’t put it down and I was completely captivated by the story so much so that I finished the book in about a day. It has been a while since I read a book as good as this. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The story is written over 2 timelines; the past26 years ago and the present. This makes the story very suspenseful as you find yourself trying to figure out what has happened. The fact that the plot moved between Melbourne and Kentucky added to the mystery as you trying to solve how a Kentucky child that disappeared 26 years ago and a Melbourne woman can be the same person. The two places are as far apart as they could be but I found that the author managed captured the atmosphere in both Melbourne and Kentucky well, each of them was described in great detail and depicted vividly so it felt like you were really there. The characters were also very fascinating and besides the main mystery interwoven in the story are sub plots surrounding each of the characters. Raising questions about what kind circumstances caused them do the things they did and become the people they are today. This added an extra dimension to the story and made it more interesting
A great new author, I will keep my eyes open for any future books. If you love a good mystery, don’t miss this book!
Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

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