"We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of dome half-remembered song, and when one came back, she wasn't the one we were trying to recall to begin with."
In the summer of 1992, Tikka Malloy and her older sister, Laura, were living in a suburban Australian town. Tikka was 11-1/6 years old, and she and Laura spent most of their time with their best friends, Ruth, Hannah, and Cordelia Van Apfel. At the time, the country was obsessed with the Lindy Chamberlain case (she of the "dingo took my baby"), but that summer, something major happened to Tikka and Laura: one night during a school concert, all three Van Apfel sisters disappeared.
Despite an exhaustive search, no sign of the girls was ever found. Did their odd, strict, evangelical parents have something to do with their disappearance? Did they run away? Was a stranger responsible? The town, and the Malloy sisters, are left with no answers, a fact that haunts them all these years later.
When 20 years later Tikka returns to Australia to see her sister, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer, of course their memories turn to the Van Apfel girls' disappearance. And it is only with years of perspective on the mystery that Tikka and Laura begin to make sense of some events which occurred before the girls went missing, and they can finally start to process clues they might not have understood when they were younger.
This is a fascinating, well-told book which switches back and forth between 1992 as the girls' disappearance unfolds, and 2012, as Tikka tries to come to terms with the events of that summer. McLean creates some truly memorable characters to inhabit this story, and she certainly raises more than a healthy share of questions about what happened to the Van Apfel girls. (Ultimately the reader is left with two potential scenarios.)
What's interesting about this book is the fact that so much is seen through the eyes of 11-year-old Tikka, so you're not quite sure if what is being presented is accurate or simply her perceptions of what occurred. That adds to the mystery and poignancy of the story, as does the feeling of guilt that Tikka and Laura share, for perhaps not divulging all of the things they knew back then.
McLean does such a terrific job with evocative imagery; Australia is, of course, such a fascinating and beautiful place, and McLean certainly helps you to see everything in your mind's eye. She also has created such a unique story, full of answers and questions, and it's one that will stick in my mind for some time to come.
The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone will make you think and it will fill you with nostalgia for the simpler days of your youth and childhood friendships. But it will also haunt you a bit and make you wonder how you might react if you were faced with the same situation that Tikka and Laura were.
Algonquin Books provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
No comments:
Post a Comment