Author: Maryrose Cuskelly
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
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The sugar cane fields of the title provide both the setting and much of the atmosphere in this thriller set in North Queensland. A sixteen-year-old starts out through the cane to babysit her mother’s friend’s daughters, and never arrives. As the weeks pass with no trace of her, her disappearance affects everyone in the district, stirring vague nightmares in its children, anxiety and suspicion in their parents, and heartbreaking memories of past tragedy in older residents. Cuskelly, a true-crime fanatic, realistically presents 70s life in rural Australia, with different facets revealed through a range of narrative voices.
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