'There's someone in the school. Someone who's not supposed to be there. This person is walking towards the classroom. They're holding something in their hands. Something terrifying.'

Sam lives with his mum, dad and four brothers in a small farming town. At his school, there are three main factions: the rich kids, the mid-grounders and the farm kids who live on the outskirts. Sam is a comfortable mid-grounder and life is pretty good. He works as a lifeguard at the local surf club, is saving to buy his first car, he's training with his friends for the Ironman challenge, and on Sunday afternoons he and his family take care packages to their less fortunate neighbours. Then, five years since they last spoke, Emily Burrow climbs back into Sam's life and everything changes.

Emily's life is very different to Sam's - her absent father has returned and her mum struggles with her mental health. Sam does his best to be there for Emily when he wasn't for so long, but there seems to be no right way to help her.

When Rei starts at school, Sam is smitten. Rei's parents are social workers, she's from the rich side of town, and her life seems a thousand miles away from how the kids on the outskirts live. In a world that's ill-equipped to support kids struggling with unseen burdens, is there a way to help Emily before the worst happens?

From the bestselling author of I Had Such Friends comes a novel that's gritty, full of heart and shines a light on kids who are doing it tough in a rural Australian town.

Autorentext

Meg Gatland-Veness is a high school drama teacher. She attended the University of Newcastle where she studied a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Secondary Teaching.

Meg has been writing stories for as long as she can remember and reading them even longer. Equal to her love of words is her passion for championing local youths and fostering important conversation about issues facing young Australians.

Meg was born in a tiny country town called Milton and now lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales. When she's not writing novels, she channels her creativity into choreographing and directing musicals, writing poetry, singing and dancing.

Meg is the author of I Had Such Friends (2018) and When Only One (2022).