Rhiannon Wilde, Where You Left Us, UQP, August 2022, 328 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9780702265600
After the success of her first book, Henry Hamlet’s Heart, Rhiannon Wilde is back with Where You Left Us. Landscape and setting play a vital role in developing both plot and character, and Wilde does a great job of using it also to reflect her themes. There is a clear attempt to incorporate gothic elements into this story of secrets borne from grief, mental illness manifesting into family dysfunction, and above all the fragile uncertain relationship between two sisters.
Cinnamon and Scarlett Prince narrate the story in the present tense. It takes a while for readers to orientate themselves around the dynamic. Cinnamon’s anger is loud and real while Scarlett’s anxiety is quiet and ambiguous. The character of the rambling and crumbling mansion clinging to a cliff is the most present, the most domineering and at the centre of the family drama. Halcyon House represents the concept of home, and we see that Cinnamon feels trapped, while Scarlett feels resentful, and yet, it’s all they’ve known and their coming-of-age journey is deeply embedded into their turbulent uncertainty of a place that not only protects and hides them, but also suffocates and restricts them.
The sisters circle each other like cats. We see them interact with others more than each other, and it’s the interplay with their father, Ian, and Cinnamon’s best friend-turned boyfriend-turned ex-boyfriend Will that gives us glimpses into their fractured relationship which apparently used to be strong and warm. We recognise that the gaping wound created by the recent death of their grandmother and the large hole carved out by their absent mother has built up resentment and bitterness in Cinnamon and denial and misery in Scarlett. Emotions run deep, and while we are not immersed suddenly nor easily, when we inevitably are, it’s utterly.
It’s the mystery surrounding their Great Aunt Sadie that brings Scarlett closer to Will, and it’s in trying to avoid Scarlett that Cinnamon discovers the glorious Daisy Leung. Will and Daisy are my favourite characters—more than just sideliners playing their part in bringing out the best in the sisters—they are fleshed out as authentic people, existing in the story with their own flaws and foibles and their own paths to follow.
There are a few tropes here that I hope don’t turn young people away – the small-town rumours of the ‘Mad Princes’, the rockstar father sinking into alcohol and depression, the mother too busy to nurture and nourish her daughters—these are all subverted as the plot progresses, weaving through the themes of loss and belonging and identity. By the time the four set out on their road trip, we know them, we see through their insecurities, and we hope that they can too. We want them to open their hearts and take risks, and we want the sisters to trust each other. To understand that families can separate and be on their own journeys, but this doesn’t mean they won’t have a place to call home. The satisfying resolution leaves the Prince family members in good places, perhaps far from each other geographically, but also much much closer emotionally.
Where You Left Us is another quality Australian young adult novel vying for attention in a crowded space that seems to be overrun by BookTok recommendations from overseas markets for older audiences. It deserves to be put front and centre on secondary school library shelves, along with other great contemporary Australian titles from 2022 – Completely Normal (& Other Lies), When Only One and the soon to be released, Unnecessary Drama.
Teaching Notes are available at the UQP website.
Reviewed by Trish Buckley
