The Gosling Girl, Jacqueline Roy
The Gosling Girl, Jacqueline Roy
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
Club: $11.99

The Gosling Girl

Author: Jacqueline Roy

Narrator: Jessica Alade

Unabridged: 10 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/20/2022


Synopsis

‘[The Gosling Girl] interrogates the context of a child's crime and simplistic notions of evil by society and the media. It fosters understanding & empathy and draws us deep inside the protagonist's psychology’ Bernardine Evaristo

Monster?  Murderer?  Child? Victim?
Michelle Cameron’s name is associated with the most abhorrent of crimes. A child who lured a younger child away from her parents and to her death, she is known as the black girl who murdered a little white girl; evil incarnate according to the media. As the book opens, she has done her time, and has been released as a young woman with a new identity to start her life again. 
 
When another shocking death occurs, Michelle is the first in the frame. Brought into the police station to answer questions around a suspicious death, it is only a matter of time until the press find out who she is now and where she lives and set about destroying her all over again.
 
Natalie Tyler is the officer brought in to investigate the murder. A black detective constable, she has been ostracised from her family and often feels she is in the wrong job. But when she meets Michelle, she feels a complicated need to protect her, whatever she might have done.
 
The Gosling Girl is a moving, powerful account of systemic, institutional and internalised racism, and of how the marginalised fight back. It delves into the psychological after-effects of a crime committed in childhood, exploring intersections between race and class as Michelle's story is co-opted and controlled by those around her. Jacqueline writes with a cool restraint and The Gosling Girl is a raw and powerful novel that will stay with the reader long after they have turned the last page.

Praise for The Gosling Girl:

‘This intriguing procedural is above all a portrait of two damaged women and a moving demonstration of how race and class have affected their lives' The Times and The Sunday Times Crime Club

'This is a beautifully written, insightful and thought-provoking novel. Michelle's story drew me in immediately, and while it's heartbreaking in places, it's uplifting in others. Jacqueline Roy writes with deep compassion and empathy...' Susan Elliot Wright, author of All You Ever Wanted

'A thoughtful, slow-burn exploration of how damaged children damage... At times, disturbing, poignant, and thought-provoking' Sarah Vaughan, author of Anatomy of a Scandal and Reputation

 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mandy

This is a really hard book to review, due to its subject matter and the many many triggers that there will be in this book for people. It is a deeply disturbing and dark read, and I couldn't stop reading. It wasn't a light summer read in any way and will certainly not be for everyone. I am not going......more

*www.onewomansbbr.wordpress.com *www.facebook.com/onewomansbbr **2.5 stars** The Gosling Girl by Jacqueline Roy. (2021). Michelle's name will always be associated with a horrible crime; she was the black girl who lured a little white girl to her death. Having done her time, she is released as a young w......more

*This was a very good read! From the very beginning this book pulled me in, first I was intrigued to know what possessed a naive ten year old girl to murder a four year old child…surely there is some horrific background story to impel or provoke such extreme acts from a child? The story is told in the......more

"As she leaves, Tyler wonders why she said nothing in the face of Dave Donaldson’s racism. Professionalism: don’t be drawn, you must remain professional. But sometimes, she concludes. Professional is just another word for silent." This was an absolutely incredible read, Michelle Cameron was convi......more


Quotes

‘(a)…provocative tale of institutional racism, and how the marginalised fight back’ 

‘It was refreshing to read a thriller that wasn’t full of twists, though I kept waiting for them, as I’ve been conditioned to expect them. This well-plotted story follows Michelle, who’s recently been released from prison. Does someone who’s committed an awful crime deserve to start again?’ 

‘A powerful read’ 

‘A powerful look at institutionalised racism and the after-effects of childhood crime’ 

‘This intriguing procedural is above all a portrait of two damaged women and a moving demonstration of how race and class have affected their lives'

'This is a beautifully written, insightful and thought-provoking novel. Michelle's story drew me in immediately, and while it's heartbreaking in places, it's uplifting in others. Jacqueline Roy writes with deep compassion and empathy, and I have a feeling this wonderfully compelling novel will stay with me for a long time'

'A thoughtful, slow-burn exploration of how damaged children damage, The Gosling Girl asks whether some children are born evil - and shows emphatically that an abusive childhood is to blame. I felt increasing sympathy for Michelle Cameron, in all her manifestations. At times, disturbing, poignant, and thought-provoking'

'A tour de force of engaged storytelling. With heart-wrenching pathos, The Gosling Girl delineates the bleak aftermath for all concerned when one child kills another' 

'An absorbing, powerful slow-burn'

‘I loved this novel. Compelling, meticulously crafted, unflinching but rarely bleak, it gripped me from the first page. As in The Fat Lady Sings, Roy writes with astonishing tenderness about characters the likes of whom the real world excludes, ignores or vilifies. As hopeful as it is heart-breaking, this is a beautifully rendered and haunting coming-of-age story’