Christian White

'Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.' On a break between teaching photography classes in Melbourne, Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger investigating the disappearance of a little girl from her Kentucky home twenty-eight years earlier. He believes Kim is that girl. At first she brushes it off, but when Kim scratches the surface of her family history in Australia, questions arise that aren't easily answered. To find the truth, she must travel to Sammy's home of Manson, Kentucky, and into a dark past. As the mystery of Sammy's disappearance unravels and the town's secrets are revealed, this superb novel builds towards an electrifying climax. Inspired by Gillian Flynn's frenetic suspense and Stephen King's masterful world-building, The Nowhere Child is a combustible tale of trauma, cult, conspiracy and memory. It is the remarkable debut of Christian White, an exhilarating new Australian talent.

The Nowhere Child

The Nowhere Child, is a pacey suspense thriller set between Melbourne and Kentucky.

౨ৎ | ‘she’d taken up smoking to add a little darkness to her life, but now she had all the darkness she could handle.’

holy, my mind is still reeling. i thoroughly enjoyed this book and was hooked from the beginning. some parts made me giggle. this book was so heartbreaking, but also semi heartwarming at the same time. 

the ending wasn’t fulfilling to me though, which i was disappointed about. but still a really good book! 

౨ৎ | ‘she’d taken up smoking to add a little darkness to her life, but now she had all the darkness she could handle.’

— ★ 4/5

holy, my mind is still reeling. i thoroughly enjoyed this book and was hooked from the beginning. some parts made me giggle. this book was so heartbreaking, but also semi heartwarming at the same time. 

the ending wasn’t fulfilling to me though, which i was disappointed about. but still a really good book! 

“A nervy, soulful, genuinely surprising it-could-happen-to-you thriller — a book to make you peer over your shoulder for days afterwards.”—A.J. Finn, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Nowhere Child is screenwriter Christian White’s internationally bestselling debut thriller of psychological suspense about a woman uncovering devastating secrets about her family—and her very identity... Kimberly Leamy 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. 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, a loving social worker who died of cancer four years ago, crossed international lines to steal a toddler. On April 3rd, 1990, Jack and Molly Went’s daughter Sammy disappeared from the inside their Kentucky home. Already estranged since the girl’s birth, 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. Without Sammy, the Wents eventually fell apart. 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—a mystery that will take her deep into the dark heart of religious fanaticism where she must fight for her life against those determined to save her soul...

A Novel

Anna Cashman

when they walked into the hospital room and it all came together 😱👌🏻👌🏻🙌🏻

Nadine 

Emma Tickner

This book reminds me of why I don't trust churches and religion. But it was a very good read anyway and I was hooked in from the start.

‘Her name is Sammy Went. This photo was taken on her second birthday. Three days later she was gone.’ On a break between teaching photography classes in Melbourne, Kim Leamy is approached by a stranger investigating the disappearance of a little girl from her Kentucky home twenty-eight years earlier. He believes Kim is that girl. At first she brushes it off, but when Kim scratches the surface of her family history in Australia, questions arise that aren’t easily answered. To find the truth, she must travel to Sammy’s home of Manson, Kentucky, and into a dark past. As the mystery of Sammy’s disappearance unravels and the town’s secrets are revealed, this superb novel builds towards an electrifying climax. Inspired by Gillian Flynn’s frenetic suspense and Stephen King’s masterful world-building, The Nowhere Child is a combustible tale of trauma, cult, conspiracy and memory. It is the remarkable debut of Christian White, an exhilarating new Australian talent.

Pam Sartain

Sammy Went disappeared as a little girl just over twenty years ago from Manson, Kentucky, and now Kim Leamy in Australia is being told that she is this missing child.



The Nowhere Child goes between present day and when Sammy goes missing, and tells a story that I sped through, wanting to know more. 



Kim's journey to understand what happened, and meet her family is well told, with the pain of Kim's memories of her mother being betrayed, and Kim's Australian sister.



I really enjoyed this book, and thought it was paced well, with twists and turns throughout. If you enjoy crime or thriller novels, then you'll probably enjoy this!


The Nowhere Child was published on 22nd January this year, and is available on Amazon and Waterstones to pre-order, and everywhere else you can find books! I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!



I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to Harper Collins (the publishers) for this book.



Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

Krystal Campbell 

This book is fantastic! When people ask me what my favourite read so far this year is this is one of the first to come to mind. 

Christian White knows how to make you sit on the edge of your seat bitting your nails until the very end of the story. I feel like if I wanted to I could have guessed the ending but I found myself so engrossed in the story I wasn't trying to. 

When I heard this book was about a cult I was a little sceptical but it was fantastically written, great plot line and interesting characters. 

Great thriller! Must read!

Libby

Dertig jaar geleden werd er een kind gestolen. Dat kind ben jij.

Toen. De kleine Sammy Went verdween uit haar huis in Manson, Kentucky – een gebeurtenis die haar familie kapotmaakte en de zwaar religieuze gemeenschap van het stadje uit elkaar dreef.

Nu. Kim Leamy, een Australische fotografe, wordt benaderd door een vreemdeling. Hij zet haar wereld op zijn kop wanneer hij beweert dat zij de gekidnapte Sammy is, en dat haar leven zoals ze dat kent is gebaseerd op leugens.

Op zoek naar antwoorden reist Kim naar het afgelegen stadje waar Sammy geboren werd. Maar hoe dieper ze in haar familiegeschiedenis graaft, hoe meer geheimen ze ontdekt. Ze komt langzaam dichter bij de ontknoping van het trauma uit haar donkere, vroegste jeugd.

The Nowhere Child

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