Pre-Publication Book Club

The Backwater: A Novel


Vikki Wakefield

FROM THE BOOK JACKET: The Kelly family has always been trouble

When a fire in a remote trailer park community kills nine people, including 17-year-old Sabine Kelly's mother and sister, Sabine confesses to the murders. Shortly after, she escapes custody, flees her broken hometown, and disappears into the thick forest and winding backwaters of her childhood refuge, the river.

Recently let go from marriage, motherhood and her career, journalist Rachel Weidermann has long suspected Sabine made her way back to the riverand now, twelve years after the "Trailer Park Murders," she has the time and the tenacity to corner a fugitive and land the story of the year, hoping the success would allow her to stitch back together the ragged edges of her life. But Rachel's ambition lights the fuse leading to a brutal chain of events, and the web Sabine weaves will force Rachel to question everything she believes.

As forceful and unrelenting as the river that drives its story, The Backwater is a stunning, suspenseful novel about class, corruption, truth, and justice by a powerful new voice in crime fiction.

Vikki Wakefield List of Books - Book NotificationABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vikki Wakefield writes fiction for young adults and adults. Her books explore family, class and relationships in a contemporary setting. Her novels All I Ever Wanted, Friday Brown, Inbetween Days and Ballad for a Mad Girl have been shortlisted for numerous awards. This Is How We Change the Ending won Book of the Year: Older Readers, Childrens Book Council Awards, 2020.


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