The van Apfel Girls Are Gone, by Felicity McLean

A lowly lab technician in Baltimore, Tikka seems to have moved as far away as possible to escape the childhood tragedy that haunts her. She is certainly not in the US seeking fortune or fame. Recalled home to the Sydney suburbs because of her sister’s illness, Tikka has to acknowledge that she never has and never will escape her guilt and sadness over the disappearance of the three van Apfel girls when she was 11 and her sister 14. Was the creepy teacher involved? Was it the violent religious father? Or did the girls just run away? Twenty years later, it seems no-one will ever know. You can almost smell the gum trees and mangroves as McLean evokes the long hot summer days of an Australian suburban childhood. Outwardly serene and ordinary, secrets and resentments lurk beneath the surface. Discussion and emotions are repressed, so that an event as disturbing as the disappearance of three sisters is even more shocking – not in our backyard! It is a little hard to believe that Tikka and her sister never told anyone what they knew; surely they would have said something? But the reality is that even now there is a taboo on discussing domestic violence and sexual abuse, with a misplaced sense of shame for the victims. There is also a strong culture of not dobbing, especially among kids. So on further reflection it is all too likely that children would keep secrets that haunt them into adulthood.