‘Wanna help me find the body?’

Tweens Alix and Kahu are sitting in the sand dunes, above a beach ‘that stretched uninterrupted for miles, to the north and to the south’ when Kahu makes this offer. A question wrapped in curiosity and innocence, rather than any ghoulishness that may have weighted it were it to come from anyone older. Both children are searching for something to occupy themselves over a long, hot summer holiday, away from school, home, and their usual lives. Embarking on the shared quest will stave off any looming boredom, or loneliness and give them the connection they seek

‘Her name was Charlotte… She was nine.’

Like Stephen King’s novella, The Body (adapted into the brilliant 1980s film Stand By Me), Jennifer Trevelyan’s debut novel A Beautiful Family uses the fate of a missing child as a MacGuffin to kickstart a layered coming-of-age story of adolescent friendships, fears, and dysfunctional families, that shimmers with tension and nostalgia.

Trevelyan turns back the clock to the 1980s, soaking readers in the times through her narrator’s recollections. That summer holiday begins with a surprise. Alix's mother, who always loves remote places with few to no people, this time specifically picked a popular, built-up area of coastal holiday homes. Why? Meanwhile their father oscillates between fun-loving adventurer trying to make the most of their annual family trip, and being consumed by sports watching on TV. The singing of cicadas. Clicking from their neighbour’s balcony. Unspoken hurts and simmering tensions.

Trevelyan does a marvellous job with the spaces in between. A Beautiful Family is rich with subtext, and things often aren’t spelled out or neatly tied up. Like lazy, hazy memories of our own childhood summers – where things may be amplified or overlooked at the time, or with time – how much can we trust what the narrator recalls? It’s a child’s-eye view of adult actions, or inactions. Authors such as John Hart, with his Edgar Award-winning The Last Child, Aotearoa’s own Paul Cleave, with his terrific A Killer Harvest, and Ojibwe storyteller Louise Erdich, with her National Book Award-winning The Round House, have successfully meshed a child investigator with multi-layered adult tales of crime, literary quality, and genre-blending. Jennifer Trevelyan has joined that club with this novel. It’s a rare feat.

A Beautiful Family doesn’t move at breakneck pace but inexorably pulls you through the pages, like an unseen riptide as opposed to raging whitewater, compelling one to read on. I’m looking forward to what Jennifer Trevelyan brings us next.

[This review is a condensed version of a review first published in Kete Books in New Zealand]

A long summer holiday of discovery in New Zealand.... the narrator, 10-year-old Alix, is a delight. Her voice, her observations, her fears, her actions... I was hooked. She tells the story of a mundane summer in which her family of four (father, civil servant; stay-at-home mother writing a book; 15 year old older sister stretching her wings; and Alix, still a child...) get progressively embroiled in different types of complications all to do with growing up, apart, weary....

The storytelling is rather wonderful, controlled narrative conjuring clear, rather memorable images. It pulls you along and managies to create suspense in a terse and tense, lyrical manner. There is menace and humour, and loads of believable insights... This crucial summer of crisis is a bit of a tour de force. With touches of a Famous Fives adventure (but they are just two, Alix and her friend Kahu) and What Maisie Knew, this is a rather good story which manages to deal with two thorny issues (the disappearance of a young girl, and the consequences of adultery) in a most intelligent, light yet deep manner. I loved the "inconclusive" yet perfectly satisfying ending. Recommended.

Set in New Zealand, A Beautiful Family is a compelling novel that is told through the perspective of a ten year old girl whilst she and her family are on the coast for a holiday.

The holiday begins as many summers do; slow, lazy days but soon our main protagonist begins to notice things that others seem to be oblivious to. Her mother's strange behaviour, her suspicious neighbour and her older sister's rebellion.

While processing all of this often leaves her confused, her light comes from spending days swimming and exploring the beach with her new friend, Kahu.

A Beautiful Family is the perfect blend of family secrets, a small town mystery with a little bit of coming-of-age thrown in too. It is such a brilliant debut with a very clever end and I look forward to reading more by Jennifer Trevelyan.

Wow, what an amazing and unexpected read. Jennifer Trevelyan's debut novel is set in 1980s New Zealand and is told from the point of view of 10 year old Alix, on holiday by the coast with her parents and 15 year old sister. She meets 12 year old Khu and together they plan to discover the truth behind the death of a nine year old girl two years previously.
Trevelyan writes so beautifully and perfectly captures the voice of a 10 year old. I loved the setting and was transported to an 80s summer in New Zealand. The reader is completely drawn into the world of Alix as we hear about her parents relationship, her suspicions about her next door neighbour and her thoughts about her sister's friendships.
This is a wonderful debut which I adored and cannot wait to read more from the author.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

10 year old Alix and her family are renting a house near the beach in New Zealand for the summer holidays. Aliz only cares about swimming and her precious Walkman. She just want to do her on thing free of her parents and stroppy 15 year old sister. When she meets 12 year old Kahu he persuades her to help him solve the mystery of a girl who disappeared from the beach.
This is a propelling and beautiful novel about growing up and trying to make sense of the adult world around you. Alix's sister is growing up fast and drawn to some unsuitable friends, while her parent's marriage has hit a crisis point. All the time, the man next door watches and takes photos.
The 5 weeks at the beach will change them all forever and maybe Aliz might even help to solve the mystery, if she can stay alive.

A gentle read about times gone by.

Normally spending their summers in remote locations, Alix aged 10 and her older sister Vanessa are taken by surprise when their mother decides that, this year, they are heading to the beach. Alix loves swimming and would spend all her time in the water but her mother decrees that, due to the unpredictable tides, she need a chaperone each and every time she enters the sea. With her parents busy doing their own thing and her sister more interested in boys, her time in the water is cut down. Finding herself at a loose end, she makes friends with Kahu. When he tells her about a girl who went missing two years ago, the pair of them decide to unravel that mystery - after all, there's not a lot else to do . . .

It was a delight to be taken back to a time before social media ruled the lives of our youngsters and they had to make their own entertainment. There's a fair bit of this novel which is hinted at, rather than being spelled out on the page and the adventures of the whole family make for an intriguing read. A lovely, gentle, summer read - perfect for the beach or the back garden. For me, 4*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley.

This is a mesmerizing holiday story of a family in New Zealand told from their younger child's point of view. Alix is ten years old and doesn't always get on with her fifteen year old sister. Alix has however made friends with a boy who is also on holiday but he knows much more about a child that went missing than Alix does. They spend time every day looking for clues that might help find the girl.

Trevelyan has written this story masterfully; the pace is good, there is an atmosphere, tension and the characters are wonderfully believable. Thoroughly enjoyable!

I would best describe this as a well written literary thriller with an ambling pace rather than an edge-of-your-seat read.

Written from the perspective of a child, this was a new concept for me and I enjoyed it. It was eye-opening to see things through the eyes of a child and how much they actually take in.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the characters and particularly loved the relationship between Alix and Kahu.

The book is full of nostalgia, taking me back to my childhood spent with my siblings.

The thrills in this book are subtle and open to interpretation, making it perfect for those who prefer a slower pace and build-up.

A beautiful, lyrically written story of one girl's coming of age over a summer holiday at the beach.

A missing girl, a family secret, an attempt to pretend all is well, and a tragic twist that will forever change Alix's family. 10 is a hard age to be, but it is even harder when you don't understand the actions of those around you, when you are trying to solve a missing person's case AND your mother keeps wandering down the beach in search of the unfindable.

This is one of those novels that isn't plot driven or a slow burn. It is just a lilting, meandering exploration of the world around us and all the things that happen behind closed doors.

This was tense and tender read with a haunting edge. A s a child’s summer unravels into something far more complicated.

It was an interesting concept seeing each family member and their issues and experiences , while on holiday, through the eyes of a child Alix aged ten was naive and unspoiled yet showed sensitivity to the goings on between her parents.Shock at some of her elder siblings antics.Over arching was the mystery of a young girl who had gone missing a few summers ago. It was well written but I felt it needed a few more unique elements to make it memorable

Seen through the eyes of ten-year old Alix, the events of a slow New Zealand summer unfold, with facts and fiction merging and the complex family relationships and events being only partly understood from a child's beautifully defined perspective.

Alix is on holiday with her family, an older sister who is keen to break free and enjoy her teen friends independently, and her parents who seem to be at odds over incidents only partly glimpsed from Alix's point of view. Alix makes a new friend, Maori boy Kahu, and their own adventure searching for a lost girl take a very sinister turn.

Throughout the book you are put in the position of understanding more than Alix does about some of the things that are going on around her, and this makes for a very suspenseful read as we see her put into situations that she may not fully understand.

It's a really well imagined and told story which captures the child's perspective on the edge of awareness, you really care for Alix and her sister as they make their way through a fraught summer.

Slow, dark and deeply weird, all in the best way. Utterly conjures the world of a ten year old, the unfathomable nature of adults at that age, and a long hot dangerous summer in 1986.

I loved everything about this intoxicating debut. Told from the perspective of 10 year-old Alix, on a long holiday with her family. She makes friends with a boy on the beach and they decide to search for the body of a girl who went missing, presumed dead. On top of that, she's observing a transformation in her sister as she's swept up in teenage schemes, trying to figure out why the tether has snapped between her parents ad tip-toeing around her mother's sensitivities. Oh, and she's spooked by her creepy neighbour. 10/10 for vibes and atmosphere. I couldn't put it down. Eerie, reflective, heartening. Trevelyan really captures the complexities of feeling of that on-the-cusp age. My heart was racing through the final third of the book, and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Gosh, this book. A fiction that read like a memoir, it gave me such scorching waves of nostalgia that I actually felt like my ten-year old self again. The tension, the friendships, the family dynamics all perceived from a character that age - impeccable. I read this in one feverish sitting, and my only complaint is that I want more. What a talented writer, my goodness. Thank you so, so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the privilege of this arc.

This book is so special – calming and comforting in parts, but also full of thrilling moments that made me gasp. It captures what it’s like to see the world through a
child’s eyes, only to realise as an adult how much was really going on. Alix notices everything, but she doesn’t quite understand what she’s seeing – which makes it all the more powerful when we, as readers, put the pieces together. It’s such a clever idea, and it’s done so well. 😮
The ending felt just right – a bit sudden, like the way holidays always seem to end too, but it completely fit the story.
Highly recommend this one! ❤️📚

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book,

I would say 3.5 but not quite a 4.

I liked this book but didn't love it,. maybe it's me as I have read a few books lately which are written from the point of view of a child sho doesn't really understand what is happening. Alix and Vanessa and to a certain extent Kahu, are really the only fully drawn characters. I didn't get much of a sense of the mum and dad or of Lucy and her parents. The reader has to imagine everything that led to the main events because the child Alix, is too innocent to understand. I found this a bit unsatisfactory, I prefer more resolutions in a thriller/mystery type of book. Nice to read about New Zealand for a change though complete with authentic Kiwi words like Pakeha, togs and jandals.

Having said that, the latter half of chapter 20 when Alix finds the broken board in the fence and goes through it is taut with tension. Very well written, I felt sick with dread when I was reading it.

It all ends quite abruptly and, as I said, the reader is left to fill in all the gaps. I am not sure about the significance of the mother's book and the burning of it by the father and I am not clear on the reasons behind what happened to Lucy's mother.

This is a lovely, poignant story, with everything told from the point of view of our young heroine. The writing is very credible at all times and I could picture everything, which is quite a compliment as I sometimes struggle with that sort of thing. It's easy to read and worth reading.

The success of this book will entirely depend on how it’s marketed.
If you’re after a buzzy thriller with a neat ending, this one isn’t for you.
But instead if you want the claustrophobic nostalgia of a sticky hot childhood summer this is for you.

A Perfect Family made me nostalgic for beach summers in Australia I’ve never had. It made me remember fleeting friendships made on holiday - short and intense and fierce.

It’s about families, the complexity of teenagehood, how baffling adults are to a child.

Setting this from Alix’s perspective gives it a naivety which really adds to the confusion and complexity of the adult’s decision-making.

All of the characters feel real and flawed and the plot is revealed slowly and also not at all.

A dark, dreamy and nostalgic summer read. I loved it.

4 stars.

Superb! Fantastic! Sublime!
Can you tell I enjoyed this? The writing is faultless, the plot twisty.. The location a key character. Alex and Kahu - I want a follow up!