I hate that I was lured into this book by its comparisons to the Virgin Suicides and yes, though I do admit that it does have some passing similarities, the level of disappointment was unsurmountable. After-all, in scope and execution, it was surely like comparing an ocean to a puddle.

Thank you to both Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title.

I wholeheartedly say this is the best book I've read in 2020, and given lockdown and time home, I've read a lot. This book is astounding. The lyrical writing is gripping, the subject matter, combining crime and domestic violence with a religious aspect, was arresting, but it is the characterisation of the sisters that is so haunting. The awe of the narrator extends to the reader. It is reminiscent of The Virgin Suicides, but in Australia. The overt threats of men in the lives of these girls and their strength together is terrifying but, at the end, somewhat hopeful.

I think about them as if they were real, wondering at the ending and where they are now, and that takes an truly special writer.

I am in charge of the senior library and work with a group of Reading Ambassadors from 16-18 to ensure that our boarding school library is modernised and meets the need of both our senior students and staff. It has been great to have the chance to talk about these books with our seniors and discuss what they want and need on their shelves. I was drawn to his book because I thought it would be something different from the usual school library fare and draw the students in with a tempting storyline and lots to discuss.
This book was a really enjoyable read with strong characters and a real sense of time and place. I enjoyed the ways that it maintained a cracking pace that kept me turning its pages and ensured that I had much to discuss with them after finishing. It was not only a lively and enjoyable novel but had lots of contemporary themes for our book group to pick up and spend hours discussing too.
I think it's important to choose books that interest as well as challenge our students and I can see this book being very popular with students and staff alike; this will be an excellent purchase as it has everything that we look for in a great read - a tempting premise, fantastic characters and a plot that keeps you gripped until you close its final page.

The Van Apfel Girls are Gone is a really atmospheric book, set during a blazing summer in 80s Australia. You can just feel the heat and sweat dripping off the pages, and smell the stench of the valley. While these descriptions evoke such a strong sense of place and make this quite a literary feeling novel, it is also a mystery novel and a real page turner at its core.

Seen through the eyes of a young girl Tikka, we learn about the events of one summer when three girls go missing from her neighbourhood. As is often the case with a child narrator, things are recounted hazily and in a scrambled order. This definitely adds to the mystery, as we hear about the friendship between the girls, their days hanging out together in the oppressive Australian heat, and the intense religious practices of Van Apfel family.

The novel also flits back and forth with present day Australia, when Tikka goes home to visit her family from the US where she now lives. Although this really drums home how much the past haunts the present, I didn't love this about the book as it sometimes slowed the pace a bit to much. While I am not sure that this jumping around really adds anything to the mystery aspect of the novel, perhaps it's needed for the more literary side of the novel.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

I really enjoyed this slice of Australian life fiction.
Following the disappearance fo three sisters and told from dual timelines this was a fantastically haunting novel of childhood and abuse told from a child's point of view as well as the understanding as an adult.

Felt very very similar to 'Virgin Suicides', and the pace was a little slow for me. Some people might love it, but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

A beautifully crafted thriller, one I would recommend to any and all thriller fans. The book flows well and the mystery around the disappearance of the girls keeps you guessing throughout

A haunting coming of age novel set in the Australian bush. A great plot line with well developed characters, this book is beautifully written.

However, I think the author slightly missed the mark and I was left a little disappointed at the end.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was fantastic and I loved the hazy summer vibes of the novel.

4/5 for this one. It’s almost ethereal and floaty in its thoughtful way of being written. I hope that makes sense. It’s just a tale of times gone by with a mystery attached. I can imagine being there and although slightly tense it grips you. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

This is an intriguing story but is definitely not for readers that like all the loose ends to be tied up! The story leaves a lot of questions unanswered and this could be frustrating for some.

I enjoyed the hot Australian setting and the mystery element, but the book did have a lot of filler and I felt it didn't meet its full potential.

Part mystery, part coming of age novel, this will enchant lovers of The Virgin Suicides. A gripping holiday read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Van Apfel girls are all blonde-haired, green tinged from the chlorinated waters of their backyard swimming pool, long-limbed, a sun-kissed brown from the relentless Australian sunshine, and, mostly importantly, all missing. One night the three sisters disappeared. One returned, but not the one they were hoping for, but the mystery of where they went and why remained.

The narrative is split between past and present sections and I appreciated how little the focus remained in the present. The childhood perspectives were where my intrigue lay and theirs formed the majority of the focus. I also appreciated how authentic these child voices were. They spoke with some pretension but none of the gravitas sometimes imbued on fictional children. They had the squabbles and humour and important things to document that only children of their age would. They also provided a To Kill a Mockingbird type-perspective, when the reader is invited to take an active part in the puzzle and read the truth in their revelations delivered yet not truly understood.

I did not anticipate the dark depths the story-line would veer on but McLean did her topic justice. This remained a consistently compelling and suspense-ridden story-line but also a carefully-delivered and sensitive coming-of-age tale full of authentic characters, of which the unsettling heat-soaked setting was one.

An atmospheric blend of coming of age story and the mystery of three missing school girls that really resonated with me.
Tikka is a young woman who has returned to her small home town to visit her family. The visit stirs up memories of the defining moment of her childhood when her friends went missing. Told in the past and the present, events from her childhood take on a new significance in her adult brain. There is a darkness at the heart of the Van Apfel family and it is as an adult, with the benefit of hindsight, that Tikka understands that the girls were let down by her parents, friends, and neighbours.
The book is wonderfully atmospheric, I could almost feel the heat and the desire for the rain to fall. The characters are all incredibly well constructed; they are recognisable, but never stereotypical and the relationship between the girls was so well crafted.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time and I am eager to see what the author will tackle next. My thanks got to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Loved this book - a real tense mystery but also very comedic as told from the point of view of a young girl. A great family drama, set against the searing heat of an Australian summer.

I had looked forward to this title for some time and when I got to it on my to read list I was excited to start.

It is beautifully written and really evocative. I could pratically feel the heat when Tikka, our narrator, describes it. There were lots of Australian/Australia references which I did have to look up (thank goodness it was on Kindle!) But this helped with authenticity.

That said, I was expecting more of a mystery and a slightly faster pace. It was compared to The Virgin Suicides but this didn't feel as dark or mysterious.
It has some great themes surrounding the Van Apfel family and the use of young Tikka as a narrator for some sections helps to keep the reader in the dark as she is an unreliable narrator without all of the facts to hand.

A great secret reveal added intrigue but I was left unfulfilled by this tale and it really wasn't quite what I expected sadly.

This haunting book jumps between the present and past memories of our narrator to try and figure out what happened that summer. I so wanted to find out!

Tikka Malloy is coming back home. Her sister’s illness has brought her back but Tikka has long been haunted by memories of the Van Apfel sisters and the night they went missing. Set in suburban Australia, the story is dominated by the three Van Apfel sisters, Hannah, Cordelia and Ruth. Tikka is fascinated by them, their dynamic and their strict, religious father. Tikka is only young when they go missing and as she gets older she starts to piece together the mystery of their disappearance and what caused them to vanish so suddenly.

This is a really original take on a coming of age story. Tikka is a interesting narrator and it makes a change from the current crop of books to have a narrator who isn’t bogged down by their own family dysfunction. Tikka’s family are supportive and have a wry wit. Their normality makes the strangeness of he Van Apfel’s stand out even more. There’s so much that Tikka doesn’t understand as a child and it’s a good device for the author to use as Tikka and the reader slowly piece the parts of the mystery together.

I really enjoyed this book. The story has a few twists along the way and is quite heartbreaking at points. There’s enough left up to the reader to work out or imagine for themselves and it’s a smart and interesting story with a ending I really enjoyed. Recommended.

I received a ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair review.

I really wanted to like this book, I thought the description sounded fantastic, very different and intriguing. However, even though I had high hopes about this book it unfortunately failed to deliver. I found the story line very difficult to follow, the chapters did not make it clear whether it was in the past or present. To be honest it was a struggle to finish this book and I found the eventual conclusion very disappointing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC