Fiction The Cane

Maryrose Cuskelly: Allen & Unwin, $33

From the laconic narrator’s distinctive voice to the atmospheric depiction of a small, rural cane-farming town in 1970s Queensland, the familiarity of people and place add a terrifyingly relatable element to this mystery. Popular teenager Janet vanishes walking through the cane field to babysit her neighbour’s kids; a mere 20minute walk she’s done so many times before. Weeks of searching and investigations has turned up nothing, the lack of information and suspects feeding the town’s dread and distrust. Inspired by her own childhood and reallife events, there’s a sense of growing menace as issues of racism, sexism, concealed violence and small-town politics are explored.

LEANNE EDMISTONE