THE OTHER SIDE OF BEAUTIFUL

Kim Lock HQ FICTION, RRP $30

Mercy Blain is unattached, unemployed and unhappy.

When her house burns down – the home she hasn’t stepped outside of for two years – all she has left in her whole world is her sausage dog, Wasabi, and her crippling anxiety. Desperate for a safe place to hide away, she buys a 40-year-old campervan, with a proud sticker on it that says: “Home is where you ARE”.

And – without supplies, spare clothes or any real idea of where she’s going – she hits the highway heading north out of Adelaide.

In a transformative journey through the remote heart of Australia, she has to face up to shops, a huntsman spider, an old foe, the annoying overtures of a crew of perky grey nomads and a traumatic past.

Lock’s book is a treat from beginning to end. Mercy’s travails as she negotiates her uncertainty and fear are both funny and moving – readers will be with her every step of the way. A real and heartfelt story.

CORINNA HENTE VERDICT: A delight