In GIRL FALLING, Hayley Scrivenor invites readers back to rural Australia, a land notorious for its dangers. Following her debut, DIRT CREEK, this dark, sinister mystery tests the bonds of friendship, love, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

When Finnlay Young meets Daphne Bennett, they are just teenagers, each grappling with a deep hurt: the loss of a sibling. While Finn’s sister died on a camping trip very recently --- her body crumpled on the rocks, her death labeled a suicide --- Daphne’s loss came first, and her arrival at Finn’s school is the stuff of gossip and scandal. Daphne’s sister also died by suicide, and while the girls grapple with the decisions of their loved ones, they also learn that no one quite gets them like each other. The papers already are calling Finn’s sister’s suicide a “copycat,” forcing the narrative that Finn and Daphne are easing into. That Finn is queer complicates their bond: teenage friendship blurs the line so easily with teenage love, and Daphne is captivating and mesmerizing --- a true dream girl.

"I won’t spoil the truth about what happened on the mountain --- which is so jaw-dropping that it demands to be read --- but the combination of mystery, terror and cruelty is emotionally affecting and well worth the journey getting there."

A decade later, Finn and Daphne are still best friends, a label they can neither shed nor avoid, despite their loosening bond. While Finn, always a bit feckless and never quite right about anything, has succumbed to credit card debt and part-time jobs serving coffee and leading brush tours, the always effervescent Daphne has left their small town to pursue her PhD. Finn’s life shrinks down to just her secretly alcoholic mother and her loss, and Daphne’s expands: to drinking, dates, and sleeping with strange boys.

Then fate intervenes when Finn meets Magdu, a stunning and smart psychology student. Unlike Daphne, Magdu has no reason to want Finn, yet she does anyway. For the first time, it seems like happiness is within Finn’s grasp.

So it makes no sense when, while on a girls’ bonding climb, the rope that Finn had double- and triple-secured snaps, sending sweet Magdu to her death, much in the same manner that Finn’s sister died. The police are quick to criticize the girls --- know-nothings thinking they can beat the wild --- but Finn knows that she and Daphne are both experts in climbing, tying knots, securing anchors, teamwork and communication. So what happened?

Alternating between the days shortly after Magdu’s death and the years leading up to that fateful moment --- including Finn and Daphne’s time at school and her eventual relationship with Magdu --- Hayley Scrivenor pens a sinister, insidious tale of control. Finn has constantly leaned on Daphne, but in her reflections on their youth, it becomes apparent that Daphne may not have always had Finn’s best interests at heart. In present day, Finn is aware that the blending of a best friend and a lover is complicated. Everyone wants to own the person they love the most, yet she cannot answer why Magdu is so put off by Daphne, or why Daphne is so quick to make every conversation awkward or painful.

Slowly and searingly, a darker picture emerges. Daphne has been holding Finn’s secrets over her head, and for the first time --- whether a result of her own maturity or the love of Magdu --- Finn is starting to recognize her best friend’s desperate need for control. But a best friend would never hurt another. Right?

Deeply atmospheric and immersive, Scrivenor’s sophomore effort builds on much of the promise of her debut. The setting is so real that you can feel the beating sun, taste the salt of sweat, and feel the burn of the climb in your arms. Her characters are what many readers may call “unlikable,” but they are also exquisitely drawn. They are always held just far enough away to retain a little mystery, yet are still clearly rendered for the reader. But in the end, it is the creeping mystery of what happened to Magdu and the reveal of Daphne and Finn’s true natures that make GIRL FALLING soar.

I won’t spoil the truth about what happened on the mountain --- which is so jaw-dropping that it demands to be read --- but the combination of mystery, terror and cruelty is emotionally affecting and well worth the journey getting there.