The Gosling Girl
by
Jacqueline Roy
Murderer? Monster? Child? Victim?
Publication date: 2nd February 2022
Genre: Crime
Pages: 400
RRP: $32.99AUD
Format read: paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
My review
The Gosling Girl is disturbing, distressing, addictive......I read it in a day!
Michelle Cameron has spent the last 14 years in institutions after being convicted of murder at the age of ten.
Roy leaves the reader questioning Michelle's guilt or innocence and she is not quite sure herself what she has done wrong.
By not mentioning Michelle by name until well into the book we get an insight into what it is like to have your identity stripped from you.
The difficulties faced after being released and trying to live in a society you have never been part of are well conveyed.
It took me a little while to get into the story but once I did the pages flew and I couldn't put it down. Filled with flawed characters that are on the whole unlikable, however very real in their thoughts and actions.
Throughout the book I found myself warming to Michelle as I followed her small triumphs and devastating losses. Each time she picked herself up and started again I wished for her to have the happy ending she dreamed of.
With themes of embedded racism, child abuse, police inadequacy and lynch mobs, this book will have you infuriated with the system.
My rating 4 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
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