The Guardian - Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor review – outback noir that lives up to the hype

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Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor review – outback noir that lives up to the hype

Link [2022-06-02 21:36:46]

Set in a remote town where a schoolgirl disappears, this debut arrives with high praise from other crime novelists – and it’s truly excellent

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In Hayley Scrivenor’s debut novel Dirt Town, the barren landscape of regional Australia becomes the battleground upon which narratives of motherhood, friendship and trauma play out.

When Esther Bianchi goes missing on her way home from school in Durton, New South Wales – nicknamed Dirt Town – the residents’ illusion of small-town safety is shattered. Her disappearance exposes the deep cracks running through the community as the investigation casts suspicion on friends and family. Esther’s best friends, Ronnie and Lewis, drift apart without her presence to ground them.

One of our mothers heard the girl had just wandered off. Or our parents told us her name and left us at home while they went to join the search. Or we lived out of town and neither of our parents said anything, and no-one rang the phone in the hallway, and we wouldn’t find out until school on Monday.