Wing

An explosive, contemporary literary thriller from international bestselling author Nikki Gemmell — Wing is Lord of the Flies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Promising Young Woman.

Students from an elite girls' school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of them — a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers — become separated from the main group. A male teacher volunteers to look for them.

None of the five come back.

A major search immediately gets underway. Days crawl past, agonisingly, with no sign of the girls or their teacher. The principal of the school, godmother to one of the missing students, is desperately trying to hold the parents, the school community — and herself — together. She needs to find out what happened before the police do. Finally, separated and traumatised, the four girls re-appear. But the male teacher does not.

And The Cins aren't talking.

Wing is an immersive, propulsive, headlong, heartrush of a read. Provocative, sharp, raging and tender, it is a novel about the fault lines in female friendships. Between mothers and daughters. Between older and younger generations. And of course, between men and women. It is a novel that meets its times head on, with great power, honesty and urgency.

As the author of the international sensation, The Bride Stripped Bare, Nikki Gemmell defined sex, desire and identity for a generation of women. Now, two decades later, she comes full circle, with another incendiary novel about what it means to be a woman today.

'A fiercely feminist book, with a range of female characters navigating the complexities of middle age, alongside young women poised on the cusp of adulthood, filled with hormones and sass, as yet untarnished by the patriarchy. There are no easy answers, but the story's conclusion makes for a deeply satisfying and thought-provoking read.' — Readings

'Nikki Gemmell is such an exquisite writer. I'm compelled to re-read, just to savour her unique style, use of uncommon adjectives, her turn of phrase and sentence structures. The story is gripping from the start. This is a story about difficult relationships... It's about what it is to be a woman today and it's a mesmerising read.' — Good Reading

'Brave, vicious and biting yet terribly tender and truthful. I read it in a single sitting, almost without breathing.' — Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

'A deftly plotted, taut, compulsive read' — Sydney Morning Herald

'Full of rage, joy and hope: I dare you to put it down.' — Susan Johnson, Aphrodite's Breath

'Taut, timely and mysterious — and a beautiful evocation of the power and centrality of female friendship.' — Kathryn Heyman, Fury

'An unflinching literary tour de force that melds the gripping narrative intensity of a contemporary thriller with profound explorations of female friendship, generational divides, and the complexities and nuances of gender dynamics. Brilliant and bold.' — Megan Rogers, The Heart is a Star