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The Ripping Tree

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( 795 ratings, 118 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Ripping Tree by Nikki Gemmell is a gripping tale set in colonial Australia. It follows a young woman who becomes ensnared in a web of secrets and lies that challenge her perception of justice and freedom. The narrative intricately weaves tension and mystery, transporting readers into a world where societal norms and personal convictions collide.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you are drawn to atmospheric crime thrillers that explore dark secrets and complex characters set against a richly described Australian landscape. This gripping story unfolds with a mix of suspense and intrigue, sure to captivate those who appreciate a deep dive into human nature's complexities and the mysteries that bind communities.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

An illustrious family. A beautiful home. A shipwrecked young woman left on its doorstep.

Don't think they're going to save her.

A new novel from international bestselling author, Nikki Gemmell.

Early 1800s. Thomasina Trelora is on her way to the colonies. Her fate: to be married to a clergyman she's never met. As the Australian coastline comes into view, a storm wrecks the ship and leaves her lying on the rocks, near death. She's saved by an Aboriginal man who carries her to the door of a grand European house, Willowbrae.

Tom is now free to be whoever she wants to be, and a whole new life opens up to her. But as she's drawn deeper into the intriguing life of this grand estate, she discovers that things aren't quite as they seem. She stumbles across a horrifying secret at the heart of this world of colonial decorum - and realises she may have exchanged one kind of prison for another.

The Ripping Tree is an intense, sharp shiver of a novel, which brings to mind such diverse influences as The Turn of the Screw, Rebecca, and the film Get Out as much as it evokes The Secret River. A powerful and gripping tale of survival written in Nikki Gemmell's signature lyrical and evocative prose, it examines the darkness at the heart of early colonisation. Unsettling, audacious, thrilling, and unputdownable.

'You are likely to be so distracted by [the beauty of the writing] that you realise you have missed the story... and the only thing to do is go back and start all over again. If ever a book deserved to become a classic, The Ripping Tree does.' The Canberra Times

'An immersive tale of intrigue, friendship, and female independence. Think Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled meets Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock.' Sydney Morning Herald

'A beautifully descriptive yet unsettling tale of survival.' Herald Sun

'Nikki Gemmell's new novel proceeds in full knowledge of the ways antipodean place corresponds to older Gothic tropes. And it manipulates these, often superbly, to replenish the ability of the genre to shock and disturb... it is designed to thrill and entertain. But it also reminds us that this continent remains unsettling to those who settled it. Gemmell has always had a deft touch for narrative. Here she takes the panoply of effects Gothic has to offer and drives them till they are blowing froth and bleeding at the flanks.' The Australian

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781460751992

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 07 April 2021

Country: Australia

Imprint: HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 28.0mm

Width: 156.0mm

Height: 236.0mm

Weight: 435g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Nikki Gemmell writes novels, memoirs, essays and columns. She is the bestselling author of some twenty books, including Shiver, The Bride Stripped Bare, After, The Ripping Tree and Dissolve. Her books have been translated into twenty-two languages. She was born in Wollongong, New South Wales.

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  • Wing
    An explosive, contemporary literary thriller from international bestselling author Nikki Gemmell β€” 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 β€” a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers...
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  • On Quiet
    Internationally bestselling author Nikki Gemmell writes on the power of quiet in today's shouty world. Quiet comes as a shock in these troubled times. Quietism means 'devotional contemplation and abandonment of the will ... a calm acceptance of things as they are'. Gemmell makes the case for why quiet is steadily gaining ground in this noisy age: why we need...
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    'Every woman on Earth should read it' - Caroline Overington, Weekend Australian Having lived through the humiliation and bewildering complexity of heartbreak in her twenties, Nikki Gemmell eventually resurfaced, reclaimed space for herself and found her voice. Decades later, she has written a deeply personal, profoundly intimate reflection on love and female creativity, and what happens when the two collide...
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  • After
    Australia's bravest and most honest writer explores the devastating aftermath of her elderly mother's decision to end her own life. After is a poignant exploration by Nikki Gemmell, whose world changed forever in October 2015 when the body of her elderly mother was found and it became clear she had decided to end her own life. After the immediate shock...
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  • The Book Of Rapture
    Three children wake up in a basement room of a large city hotel. They have been drugged and taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Now they are here. Alone. Where are their parents? Who can they trust? The family has been betrayed to the government and Salt Cottage, their home on a clifftop above the ocean,...
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    'Every woman on Earth should read it' Caroline Overington, Weekend Australian Having lived through the humiliation and bewildering complexity of heartbreak in her twenties, Nikki Gemmell eventually resurfaced, reclaimed space for herself, and found her voice. Decades later, she has written a deeply personal, profoundly intimate reflection on love and female creativity, and what happens when the two collide in...
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