Steph Bowe, Night Swimming, Text Publishing, April 2017, 311pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925498165
Kirby is seventeen and lives in the small rural community of Alberton. She has a mum, a granddad, a goat named Stanley and her flamboyant lover of musicals BFF, Clancy. Working as an apprentice carpenter to Mr Pool, life is perfect until a series of events change her small world forever: a photograph of her long absent father appears in the newspaper and her beloved grandfather is diagnosed with dementia. Then Iris and her family arrive in town.
This beautifully written coming of age story by Steph Bowe explores, with the gentlest of touches, big themes such as identity, friendship, loyalty, and the power of love in its many guises, with intelligence and humour.
A winner of a story that will keep you hooked to the very end. Highly recommended 14+
Reviewed by Mem Capp