Australia’s queen of the domestic thriller.
Angela Savage
A bizarre abduction
A body of damning evidence
A world of betrayal
The Accusation
Out May 2019
Somebody is lying.
A bizarre abduction. A body of damning evidence. A world of betrayal.
A bizarre abduction. A body of damning evidence. A world of betrayal.
After eighteen-year-old Ellie Canning is found shivering and barely conscious on a country road, her bizarre story of kidnap and escape enthrals the nation. Who would do such a thing? And why?
Local drama teacher Suzannah Wells, once a minor celebrity, is new to town. Suddenly she’s in the spotlight again, accused of being the monster who drugged and bound a teenager in her basement. As stories about her past emerge, even those closest to her begin to doubt her innocence.
And Ellie? The media can’t get enough of her. She’s a girl-power icon, a social-media star. But is she telling the truth?
A powerful exploration of the fragility of trust and the loss of innocence, from the author of The Golden Child and The Mistake.
Why we love it: it’s a hot topic right now – teenage girls, bullying, and the perils of social media – a topic nailed by Aussie author Wendy James in her latest novel. The Golden Child is a disturbing yet funny look at the age-old problem of teenage girls and the very modern problem of cyber-bullying.
Better Reading
Book of the Week
James makes her thrilling mark in women’s fiction with this intense and chilling American debut, offering an in-depth look at motherhood and bullying. Cleverly told in alternating points of view and blog posts, this psychological genre bender will resonate on many levels. The plot is on par with the thought-provoking nature of Jodi Picoult’s works, and a combination of that and the rapt storytelling style of Liane Moriarty will leave readers finishing the last page wanting more.
Booklist
The Golden Child by Wendy James is a next-level thriller that brims with dark surprises and unforgettable characters. Told with pitch-perfect pacing and unrelenting tension, James explores the darkest corners of the human heart in this bone-chilling must-read novel of the year. Clear your calendar – you’ll want to read this one straight through.
Heather Gudenkauf
New York Times best selling author of The Weight of Silence and Not a Sound
The Golden Child is a gripping novel that transports the reader into the insidious world of cyber-bullying and poses confronting questions about parenting.
Weekly Times
This book is utterly brilliant. I just don’t know where to even start with a review – it was compelling, it was tragic, it was clever, it was frightening, it was heartbreaking, it was shocking and it gave me shivers and it made me question myself as a parent.
Nicola Moriarty
Author
Goodreads
It takes 48 hours to pulse through Wendy James’ rollercoaster 21st-century story about parenting, which begins with navigating the trick-or-treating dilemma – to accompany or not? – but climaxes with the question, what age is my child legally responsible for criminal actions? … A chilling novel of our time, with a truly shocking twist
Australian Women’s Weekly
James invites the reader to consider a set of close relationships in all their intricacy as those involved hurtle towards an inevitable disaster. This is domestic noir at its most intelligent and sharp.
Sue Turnbull
Sydney Morning Herald / Melbourne Age
Australia’s queen of the domestic thriller.
Angela Savage
on ABC Radio National
an engaging and intimate read that will appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty and Jodi Picoult, with nods to Lionel Shriver and Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. It’s highly recommended…
Books + Publishing
What a fantastic read… another triumph.
Angela Savage
About Wendy James
Wendy James is the celebrated author of eight novels, including the bestselling The Mistake and the compelling The Golden Child, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Ned Kelly Award for crime. Her debut novel, Out of the Silence, won the 2006 Ned Kelly Award for first crime novel, and was shortlisted for the Nita May Dobbie award for women’s writing. Wendy has a PhD from the University of New England and works as an editor at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She lives in Newcastle with her husband and the youngest of her four children, and writes some of the sharpest and most topical domestic noir novels in the country.
Exciting update
The Golden Child is currently in series development after being optioned by FoX21 and Temple Hill Entertainment (Twilight, Fault in our Stars, Mr Mercedes)
