The Shadow Girl
John Larkin
The Shadow Girl
John Larkin
‘I tried to be forgettable. That’s how I survived.’
‘I tried to be forgettable. That’s how I survived.’
The shadow girl never imagined she’d live on the streets. After her parents disappear, life with her aunt and uncle takes a sinister turn. Terrified that the authorities will believe her uncle over her, she flees. She tricks her way into a new school and pretends to have a loving family. No one knows she sleeps in rail yards, sand dunes and abandoned houses. At school she meets the author she will call on years later. Together they piece together the story of how she survived, who helped her, and the friend she wishes she could have saved.
Thrilling, profound and blackly funny, The Shadow Girl is John Larkin’s best and most important novel to date.
Review
Angela Crocombe, Readings St Kilda
It’s a rare teenage novel that affects me as profoundly as The Shadow Girl has done. This book is a powerful and accomplished piece of writing, based on a true story. It begins with an entry into the terrifying world of a homeless girl who has found safety in an abandoned house, and is celebrating her birthday with a candlelit bath, but hears the police enter through the back door. She is an anonymous girl, living in an unnamed city, who is telling her story to an unnamed author. She is strong and spirited, modelling herself on the Roald Dahl character, Matilda, who has dreadful parents but determines to surpass their poor example. The shadow girl is on the run from her uncle and aunt, who have been looking after her ever since her parents mysteriously disappeared. But her uncle is a gangster and a very dangerous man and if she is captured and returned to him, then her life is surely in danger. All this 15-year-old wants is to get an education so that she can become a doctor and discover a cure for an eye-eating African worm – but when you’re homeless, just getting to school, let alone doing your homework, can be a tough gig.
The shadow girl is a wonderful protagonist – she’s smart, tough and never feels sorry for herself, despite the harrowing circumstances of her life. She faces challenges with verve and vigour and I felt like I was holding my breath the entire way, praying that she survive the next life-threatening moment. John Larkin has done a stunning job of bringing the shadow girl’s story to us, with all the dignity and richness that it deserves. The book touches on serious issues, including paedophila, so is suitable for readers aged 15 and up.
Angela Crocombe is from Readings St Kilda
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