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Kelsey Ford: From the Stacks: J. M. Ledgard's Submergence (0 comment)
Our blog feature, "From the Stacks," features our booksellers’ favorite older books: those fortuitous used finds, underrated masterpieces, and lesser known treasures. Basically: the books that we’re the most passionate about handselling. This week, we’re featuring Kelsey F.’s pick, Submergence by J. M. Ledgard...
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  • Kelsey Ford: Five Book Friday: Year of the Rabbit (0 comment)
  • Kelsey Ford: Powell's Picks Spotlight: Grady Hendrix's 'How to Sell a Haunted House' (0 comment)

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Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

by Felicity McLean
Van Apfel Girls Are Gone

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  • Synopses & Reviews

ISBN13: 9781616209643
ISBN10: 161620964X
Condition: Standard


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Staff Pick

The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a languidly told novel set in a sizzling long hot Australian summer, as Tikka, her sister, and their neighbor friends spend their time together. Yet, like multi-layered onion skin, there is hidden subterfuge. Intriguing and atmospheric. Recommended By Adrienne C., Powells.com

Warning: Felicity McLean's debut novel will ensnare you from the very beginning. Haunting, poignant, and darkly melancholic, you'll be compelled to finish this book in one sitting. I look forward to reading her next book. Recommended By Sheila N., Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Synopsis

2019'S PAGE-TURNING SUMMER READ

"We lost all three girls that summer. Let them slip away like the words of some half-remembered song, and when one came back? She wasn't the one we were trying to recall to begin with. Spring slunk off too. Skulked away into the scrub and there, standing in its place, was the summer that scorched the air and burned our nostrils and sealed in the stink. Like the lids on our Tupperware lunchboxes.

That summer was the hottest on record. It was the year the Cold War ended. The year they stopped making Atari 2600s forever. I was eleven and one sixth, but it wasn't enough--by then we'd learned shadows disappeared in the dark."

Tikka Molloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long hot summer of 1992, growing up in an Australian suburb surrounded by encroaching bushland. The TV news in the background is filled with debate about the exoneration of Lindy ("dingo took my baby") Chamberlain. That summer was when the Van Apfel sisters--Hannah, the beautiful Cordelia and Ruth--mysteriously disappeared during the school's Showstopper concert, held at the outdoor amphitheater by the river. Did they just run--far away from their strange, evangelical parents or overly involved teacher? Were they taken? And, in the end, was anyone actually watching out for them? While the search for the sisters unites the small community, the mystery of their disappearance has never been solved and Tikka and her older sister, Laura, have been haunted ever since by the loss of their best friends and playmates.

Now, years later, Tikka has returned home, to try to make sense of that strange moment in time, of the summer that left her frozen in the past, of the girls that she never forgot.

Brilliantly observed, spiky, funny, and unexpectedly endearing, The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is part mystery, part coming-of-age story--with a dark shimmering unexplained absence at its heart.

Synopsis

"How do you escape your childhood, emotionally, actually? This compelling mystery has a rare depth of psychological and emotional truth. It will engage your heart." --Delia Ephron, New York Times bestselling author of Siracusa Tikka Malloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long, hot, Australian summer of 1992. The TV news in the background chattered with debate about the exoneration of Lindy ("dingo took my baby") Chamberlain. That summer was when the Van Apfel sisters--Ruth, Hannah, and the beautiful Cordelia--mysteriously disappeared. Did they just run far away from their harsh, evangelical parents, or were they taken? While the search for the girls united the small community, the mystery of their disappearance was never solved, and Tikka and her older sister, Laura, have been haunted ever since by the loss of their friends and playmates.Now, years later, Tikka has returned home to try to make sense of that strange moment in time.Part mystery, part darkly comic coming-of-age story, The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a page-turning read--with a dark, shimmering absence at its heart.

Synopsis

"ONE PART MYSTERY, ONE MILLION PARTS AMAZING."
--Cosmopolitan

A Recommended Summer Read from Entertainment Weekly * Bustle * Nylon * Cosmopolitan


"How do you escape your childhood, emotionally, actually? This compelling mystery has a rare depth of psychological and emotional truth. It will engage your heart." --Delia Ephron, New York Times bestselling author of Siracusa Tikka Malloy was eleven and one-sixth years old during the long, hot, Australian summer of 1992. The TV news in the background chattered with debate about the exoneration of Lindy ("dingo took my baby") Chamberlain. That summer was when the Van Apfel sisters--Ruth, Hannah, and the beautiful Cordelia--mysteriously disappeared. Did they just run far away from their harsh, evangelical parents, or were they taken? While the search for the girls united the small community, the mystery of their disappearance was never solved, and Tikka and her older sister, Laura, have been haunted ever since by the loss of their friends and playmates.Now, years later, Tikka has returned home to try to make sense of that strange moment in time.Part mystery, part darkly comic coming-of-age story, The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a page-turning read--with a dark, shimmering absence at its heart.

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Average customer rating 4 (1 comments)

`
Tonstant Weader , July 06, 2019 (view all comments by Tonstant Weader)
There are hundreds of books that tell of children in jeopardy, children who disappeared, who ran away, were lost, stolen, or murdered. The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone is a fresh approach to that common storyline as it is told from the outside, by a young friend of the girls. The novel begins in the present when our narrator Tikka Molloy chases a woman she is certain is her lost elementary school friend, but she was mistaken, as she has been mistaken again and again and again. She jumps back and forth from the present to 1992 when her friend disappeared. The 1992 narrative has two threads, one leading up to their disappearance and one following it which allows McLean to reveal as little or as much as she wants to. Yes, the Van Apfel girls are gone and have been since 1992 and as the narrative goes back and forth, the story gets more and more complicated. We learn their father is a religious fanatic who uses his faith to justify his abuse of his daughters, particularly Cordie, the middle one. Tikka’s older sister Laura is best friends with the oldest Van Apfel, Hannah. Tikka is closest to Cordie, though Cordie is a bit older and wiser. The youngest is Ruth. She is the only van Apfel girl to be found, shortly after they disappeared, after what seems to be a fatal fall. Even though we learn more and more about how and why they disappeared, we are left with more questions than answers, just like Tikka. Which might be why the book closes as it begins, with Tikka giving chase to another glimpsed Cordie in another city. There is much to love in The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone. There is the comedic contribution of childhood misunderstandings of language and context. The young girls are interesting young women and Tikka is quite something. The relationship between Laura and Tikka is a lovely mix of sibling contempt and camaraderie. The children are convincingly childlike. Then there is how slowly we realize exactly how bad the Van Apfel family life has become. The true creepiness of Mr. Van Apfel’s relationship with Cordie is slowly exposed. It makes her name, Cordelia, seems chosen to remind us of the daughter King Lear loved and hated, though I don’t see this Cordelia ever returning to forgive him. We also learn about a complicating factor, a teacher named Mr. Avery whose own role in the Van Apfel’s disappearance is an open question. Everything Tikka learns just opens up more questions, but isn’t that the essence of mystery? I received an e-galley of The Van Apfel Girls Are Gone from the publisher through Edelweiss.

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Product Details

ISBN:
9781616209643
Binding:
Trade Paperback
Publication date:
06/25/2019
Publisher:
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Pages:
304
Height:
.70IN
Width:
5.40IN
Author:
McLean
Author:
Felicity McLean

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