No clues from me as to what the heart of this book is about. I realise that this book is fiction but I still need to say that there are some very strange people in this world and can easily believe that there is a real-life story out there that would run parallel to this one. I have always been challenged by the controls built in to conventional religions and this book definitely adds to my challenges. For myself, this book feels to be more "fact"ion than fiction. Go read it and decide for yourself. Whatever you decide, it will be worth your time.

When Australian Kim is approached by a stranger and told she is his missing sister, Sammy, who has been presumed dead for over two decades, she is initially distrustful and then starts asking questions. When she doesn't get the answers she wanted she sets out on a journey (mentally and physically as she disappeared from America) to find out who she really is. Her journey to find her past isn't in any way straightforward and what she discovers about her newly found family and the past she left behind isn't particularly good and at times is quite shocking. The books skips between 'then' and 'now' for the reader to fill in the gaps and though I'm not always keen on books that do that, in this book it works well and isn't confusing. Although as a reader you could perhaps question why Kim/Sammy hasn't picked up that some things in her life don't stack up it somehow doesn't matter that she hasn't. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one Christian White writes.

I loved this book. It had me hooked from the very start. Such a sad story and a twist at the end. Fantastic!!

This is a dark, psychological thriller set in both Australia and the USA. A child disappears in Kentucky and some twenty years later a young woman is approached in a cafe in Melbourne by a stranger claiming to be her brother. The revelation shatters the life that Kimberly Leamy has known and sends her off in a search for the truth about her past. The book seamlessly weaves the past and present together, slowly peeling away the layers with revelations of loss, betrayal, secrets, and a fanatical religious cult. This is a well written, fast paced and compelling thriller with lots of twists and turns which will keep you guessing until the final, unexpected twist. Highly recommended, especially if you are looking for a thriller with a difference.

A two year old little girl is taken from her family and taken to another country to,be brought up by a family, she loved her family and had no memory of another life.
That was until a man came to see her claiming to,be her brother and telling her that her real family lived in Manson, Kentucky and she had been taken from her real family when she was two.
It took some convincing but she eventually went with Stuart her brother? To Kentucky to find out the truth.
The story was overlong but well written and got really interesting when you found out a cult was involved and how it lead to her being taken away from her family.

This is a book full of twists and turns and raises many questions; if you’re committing a crime but ultimately saving a life is it worth it? Can you ever leave your past behind? Kim has been raised and living in Australia when she gets approached by a man claiming she’s a girl that went missing years ago and turns her world upside down. Is it true? Did her “Mum” kidnap her? Was the church a cult? The ending was not expected but very clever and I can’t wait to read the next book by this author!

Really interesting what happened fiction novel. Sammy Went went missing as a child. Fast forward 20 years and Kim is approached by a man claiming to be her brother - and telling her that she is the missing child from Kentucky.

Really interesting novel about the value of family, what makes a mother, and is doing the right thing all that matters?

Lot's of ups and downs, giving 4* because i did see the end coming!

I finally got around to finish this one.

It's a decent thriller. The plot was fine, the suspense was there. The problem, however, is that I wasn't invested in the characters, at all.

Kim, as a main character, didn't seem to have much of a personality. She didn't even have many opinions towards the end.

The twist at the end also felt meh to me. I didn't expect it because I wasn't really guessing anymore at that point.

Imagine being approached by a stranger, and being told that you are a missing person. Someone missing since they were a toddler.
And they show you a photograph, and it looks like you.

Your whole life being brought into question.
Your family. Your memories. Your mother and sister. All false?
Nothing to anchor you down, as your reality shifts.
And when you find out that the missing girl is from another continent?

How alien it must feel when people start calling you by a different name.
Assuming a familiarity based on a blood connection you didn’t even know about until weeks before.
Finding out the deepest darkest secrets of these new “acquaintances” and being expected to forgive and forget past misdeeds.

This first novel by the author captured my interest straight away.
I was intrigued at first, and that was followed quickly by shock, horror, and a spiralling anxiety that didn’t really dissipate even after the final sentence of the book.

The characters were well developed, the story was believable, and I really couldn’t put the book down as I needed to know the outcome, and hoping for a happy ending.

An excellent first novel from this author, with a well deserved 4 stars!

Kimberly is living her life. As long as she remembers she has lived in Australia, grown up, schooled and now works in Australia. How would YOU cope if someone came to you one day to tell you that you are not who you think you are but someone that was stolen in America as a baby and he knows because he is your brother.
The story follows a family in America, the devastation within the community following the disappearance and Kimberly's journey to find the truth in the present day.
Complex story line and family dynamics. Not a thriller but well told with plenty of surprises.
#netgalley,#christianwhite,#thenowherechild

Really enjoyed this story when your in the past you want to find out more and then your in the present and you really feel for Kim and all the family involved . Thoroughly enjoyed it .

The nowhere child had me gripped from start to finish! I really wanted to know if Kim really was Sammy and the twist at the end was great!! You really feel for the characters and wanted to know more about them, if this is the author’s first book then I can’t wait to read his second!!!

This Australian novel has had a lot of hype around it, having won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award which was previously won by The Dry and The Rosie Project both of which I loved. I’m happy to say I loved this one too! It definitely lived up to the hype; a clever and emotional psychological thriller which takes the reader on a journey from Melbourne to small-town USA and back again in Kim Leamy’s journey to find answers.

What if you found out everything you’d believed about your childhood was a lie? That your parents may not actually be your parents, and you were abducted from another country as a toddler. This is what happens to Kim in this compelling debut.

To find answers, she has to leave her hometown of Melbourne and travel to Manson, a small town in Kentucky. We go on a journey with her as she meets her potential real family – the Wents, and dysfunctional is an understatement for this lot. There’s Stuart, the accountant brother, Emma, who now lives in a trailer park and calls the media at the first opportunity and her mother – a dedicated member of the Church Of The Light Within, a bizarre cult which handles snakes in their ceremonies.

The story is told along two timelines; one following the Wents in Kentucky at the point when Sammy disappeared, and one in the present when Kim is searching for answers. Through both storylines, the truth is gradually revealed with plenty of twists and turns along the way. It’s the perfect blend of small-town mentalities, religious fanatics and explosive secrets which kept me riveted. For a debut, it’s hugely impressive and deserves all the praise it’s already receiving.

An interesting debut novel about a young girl who is kidnapped. A dark thriller which was engrossing and was written between 2 continents.

I didn’t know what to think about the subject matter but this worry was swiftly overcome and I fell fully immersed into a great story which was cleverly told and beautifully plotted - enough to give a brief insight into what happened, but never enough to satiate and therefore I had to keep reading. Always a great sign! I can’t believe this is a debut as the writing is so confident and assured. Can’t wait for the next one

Right from the start, I thought “I’m going to enjoy this book”...and I did!
When a two year old girl disappears in one continent, and is discovered in another, nothing will be straightforward.
And with a cult involving venomous snakes added to the mix, it was never going to be a straightforward story!
I was on the edge of my seat all the way through, hardly daring to breathe......excellent!

Absolutely loved this book from the very first page, right through to the most satisfying conclusion.
It's extremely entertaining, with some beautiful phrases and just enough description to pique your interest without getting bored.
There are a couple of very tense moments in the novel (one near the end which I read late at night stopped me turning the light out) and what could be described as a family saga has some absolutely delicious twists and shockers in there along the way.
I am really looking forward to curling up with the next book by this author. Many, many thanks for the opportunity.

Wow!! What a read! It immediately hooks you in and grabs your attention! You know the plot from reading the cover but I literally couldn’t not put this book down! The storyline has so much more to it than it first appears and this is why this book stands out against a normal kidnap story! I couldn’t see half the twists coming (which I love-there’s nothing worse than when you guess the biggest twist half way through) and it kept you guessing and adding ideas up in your head right until the last pages! My only slight disappointment was how the book ended-it felt like a checklist of loose ends to tie up just to make sure you knew how everything ended and felt quite rushed.
I wanted to know more about other big characters in the book and felt like they got forgotten about in the hurry to finish the book. Overall though I read this book in less than two because it was simply unputdownable!!

A strong debut and worthy award-winner. I found it hard to put down and an enjoyable read as it gathered pace till the nail-biting finale. I was a nervous wreck by the end. I was also impressed by the inclusion of some themes still considered taboo, eg religious practices and complicated familial relationships. Looking forward to more from this author.

“The Nowhere Child” is a debut psychological thriller by Christian White and it was so special! Several things cast their spell - my favourite genre; a very smart cover design; winner of the Victorian Premier Literary Award; and great ratings from the offset. It could only be a winner!

The book opens with an introduction to the main protagonist Kimberly (Kim) Leamy who is a photography teacher in Melbourne, Australia. Twenty-six years earlier, Sammy Went, a two-year-old girl vanished from her home in Manson, Kentucky. James Finn, an American accountant who contacts Kim is convinced she was that child, kidnapped just after her birthday. She cannot believe the woman who raised her crossed international lines to steal a toddler.

Jack and Molly Went’s daughter Sammy disappeared from their Kentucky home in 1990. Already estranged, the couple drifted further apart as time passed. Jack did his best to raise and protect his other daughter and son while Molly found solace in her faith. The Church of the Light Within, a Pentecostal fundamentalist group who handle poisonous snakes as part of their worship, provided that faith.

Now, with proof that she and Sammy are in fact the same person, Kim travels to America to reunite with a family she never knew she had and to solve the mystery of her abduction that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism.

For me, Christian White’s writing is captivating and extremely well structured. Although the theme of a child being stolen is not particularly original, the clever telling of this story made it a joy to read. The chapters alternate between the past and the present, maintaining the reader’s attention. The chapters narrated in the past explore the impact of Sammy’s disappearance on her family and the community in which they live. The other chapters follow Kim’s pathway of discovery to the truth about her past.

The most gripping parts of “ The Nowhere Child” were the chapters about the past, as the author unearthed long-buried secrets of Kim’s grieving family. It seemed that nearly every character from her past had something they wanted to be kept hidden. Revelations were made that included identity, betrayal, secrets, loss and a sinister cult. A tense story of menace and suspense, the story held my interest from start to finish and the way in which Christian White brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous.

I loved “The Nowhere Child” and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this genre. It has left me eager to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to #NetGalley, and HarperCollins UK for a free ARC of #NowhereChild in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.