The Nowhere Child by Christian White

Publisher's Synopsis

'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.

My Review of The Nowhere Child by Christian White

The Nowhere Child is the debut novel by Christian White that won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award. It’s a psychological thriller that is powerful and deeply thought provoking, particularly around the role of religion and the control people with power have over others. White also demonstrates his ability to pull together a compelling story that begins with disbelief and ends with twinges of regret.

Kim Leamy is a TAFE photography teacher living a simple life in Melbourne when she’s approached one day by an American man. He explains that he’s here because of a two year old child who went missing in the US 28 years ago. Extremely confused, her first thought is that the man is here to accuse her of the abduction, but, in fact, he’s here to explain that he thinks she’s the child who was abducted all those years ago.

The story is told through a couple of timelines and the focus changes from one to the other in alternating chapters. The present day is a first person account through the eyes of Kim. The past account is a 3rd person narrative of the events that took place all those years ago in Manson, Kentucky.

Kim’s initial reaction to the astounding news facing her is deep scepticism, but this gradually transforms into reluctant acceptance that it could possibly be true when she finds no photos of her under the age of two. The results of a DNA test kick her over the edge and she’s soon off to the United States and the small town of Manson to try to better come to terms with the fact that she may, indeed, be Sammy Went, the 2 year old who had been kidnapped all those years ago.

When we’re taken back in time to the days surrounding Sammy’s disappearance we’re treated to a family (the Went family) that’s in turmoil. The local Pentecostal Church group plays a big part in the town, complete with snake handling and outright fundamentalist beliefs that divide families. Sammy’s mother is fully committed to the church to the exclusion of her family while her father is living a secret life that could just as effectively rip them apart. Sammy’s disappearance is the final nail in the family’s coffin.

The trip back in time to reveal the events leading up to and following Sammy’s disappearance are a complete eye opener. But they don’t fully reveal what really happened or who was involved. They also don’t answer the big question: how the heck did Sammy wind up in Australia as Kim. That’s the big bombshell and part of the major reveal when it lands.

The Nowhere Child proves to be a tremendous character study that skirts carefully around any feelings of regret or pangs about what might have been. In fact, it’s more of a celebration of an alternate life that’s been well lived compared to the potential life that might otherwise have been in store for her.

I simply devoured every word of this book, completely caught up in the drama presented, both past and present. The pacing was perfect as it built to a horrifyingly vivid conclusion that served to provide what I felt was a satisfying ending.