When seventeen-year-old Friday’s mother dies, she runs away from the grandfather whom she has only recently met, with a half-baked plan to find the father she has never known. Both her history and her future have so far been defined by the campfire tales her mother toldher, but now, alone and plagued by a family curse, Friday must attempt to create the following chapters of her story herself.

She heads to the city, where she meets a local street kid, Silence. He introduces her to his gang – the usual assortment of damaged characters that belong nowhere – who live in a squat run by the beguiling matriarch Arden. Friday is quickly drawn into their world, and, while an undertone of menace makes her resolve to leave, her growing bond with Silence and a potential romance with the mysterious Wish complicate matters. The unstoppable Arden has other plans for them, too: a new home in the eerie ghost town of Murungal Creek. Like the characters the town is forgotten, abandoned, and, to Friday, seems to hold no future. In the scorching heat, tensions rise and escape seems impossible.

The gripping story and rich characters took me to places where I didn’t expect to venture – along with Friday, I had the feeling of never quite knowing what her next step would be – but I devoured each page as the novel raced towards its conclusion. The themes and subject matter may be dark, and the future uncertain, but this is far from being a novel without hope.