THE VAN APFEL GIRLS ARE GONE by Felicity McLean

The Van Apfel girls are Hannah, Cordelia both in their early teens, and younger sister Ruth who is 6. They are best friends with Tikka who is 11 and her older sister Laura, same age as Hannah. They live in a cul-de-sac in a town in Victoria, Australia. It is summer of 1992, the country is consumed with the release from prison of Lindy Chamberlain. Tikka, who narrates the story is intrigued by the story of a dingo who steals a baby, and Lindy taking the rap for it.

Despite the girls all being good friends, their home lives are quite different. The Van Apfel parents are very religious and conservative, with the rebellious and beautiful Cordelia challenging her father at every turn. One day, after a school concert, where Tikka has taken her obsession with the Lindy Chamberlain case to the stage, the Van Apfel girls disappear - all three of them. Despite extensive searching, questionings of everyone by the police, aerial and water searches the two older girls are never found. Ruth - well, you will have to read the book to find out what happened to her.

Tikka carries this tragedy of three vanished girls with her in her life. Twenty years later she returns home from the US where she lives to help her sister going through cancer treatment. Naturally, as they always do, they discuss the disappearance of the girls, visit the sites they used to play at, where the girls were last seen, what they could have done to prevent it, more analysis and reflection of that time in the their lives, what was going on in the Van Apfel house, the mystery that was Cordelia.

Because we see the story through the eyes of an 11 year old, we aren't subject to too much of the 'adultness' of suburban family life. On the contrary, we do see lots of the bickering, cattiness, spats, telling on that is just so normal for girls of this age. Tikka does not fully understand the world of the three older girls, stuck with Ruth most of the time who only wants to be with her sisters, but at age 6 is simply not wanted by them. This is writing that I expect all readers will relate to in some way. Plus the author writes about the Australian summer so brilliantly. It is hot, dry, the air almost crackles with the dryness of everything, endless summer days, swimming in the pool, hot walks to and from school.

Reviews have called this a cross between The Virgin Suicides and Picnic at Hanging Rock.  I did not get the Virgin Suicides, I didn't even finish it. I agree with the Hanging Rock comparison - the environment is its own character in that story with the rock always present, and the mysterious sinister tone of that story is also very apparent in this one.