Slow burning thriller set in suburban New South Wales (…it’s a sin to flee…)

1st July 2019

The Van Apfel Girls are Gone by Felicity McLean, slow burning thriller set in suburban New South Wales.

Tikka in present day is heading back from Baltimore to her home on Macedon Close in suburban New South Wales, not far from Sydney it would seem. Her older sister Laura has been diagnosed with cancer and Tikka wants to be with her family.

Going home however means reconnecting with the past, turning the pages back to the supremely hot summer of 1992 when she and her sister were on the cusp of their teenage years. On the evening of the School’s Showstopper event, the three Van Apfel Girls – Cordie, Hannah and their much younger sister Ruth – simply vanished during the show. Both were tight friends with the two older Van Apfel girls and it is clear they knew more than they ever let on to their parents and the police at the time.

This is a slow burning exploration of the events that led up to the girls’ disappearance, reflecting backwards but also in real time 1992. This is a debut novel and shows real promise. The plot is well managed with delicious attention to detail. Mr Avery, one of the teachers at the local school seems to be ubiquitous – could he be involved? Contemporaries at school perhaps have motives, too. And there is religious zealot Mr Van Apfel – oh the irony of the name, the apple fallen far from the tree, a devout religious man (there is an indication that Mrs Van Apfel was perusing The Watchtower, but his religion is not named – suffice it to say it is of the fire and brimstone variety). The girls’ home life under his watchful eye is not a happy one.

The author manages the progression of the story well and her writing style is delightful. The actual content is gripping yet it is at times a little too slow, overly ponderous. She also feeds in like a background beat the story of Lindy Chamberlain who was charged with the murder of her baby, although she was adamant that the tiny mite was taken by a dingo. The case dragged on, she was imprisoned but eventually pardoned and in 1992 was awarded damages. It was interesting to be reminded of this case, which was all over the news, but it didn’t add a lot to the narrative, apart from it also being an unresolved disappearance and that Tikka wrote a short and ill-judged play about it.

Observations through the children’s eyes are spot on, reflections from Tikka and Laura in the present shed light. There are humorous observations throughout. The stories now and then dovetail to make a good novel that still needs perhaps just a little tightening.

Yes, the various themes and storylines that come up in the novel are reminiscent of other novels.. The Virgin Suicides, Picnic at Hanging Rock and there is one point when I was even reminded of The Sound of Music (you will know which bit when you read the novel, I can’t tell you as it would be a spoiler!). As such it is perhaps too overtly reliant on other storylines.

The author is gifted at evoking locale, the river life, the constant buzz of animal life, the lingering smell that hangs over the Summer of the abduction. It is visceral and tangible and a real credit to her storytelling abilities.

I will be very interested to see where this author goes next.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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