The world is fascinated with missing girls. They are the subjects of true crime podcasts and countless movies and tv shows, and of course, novels. But, in Down the Rabbit Hole, debut author Shaeden Berry offers readers something a little deeper than the usual small-town thriller featuring a missing persons case.
Down the Rabbit Hole is the story of Hannah, a twenty-something undergraduate no-hoper who is living in a depressing share-house in Melbourne, and lying to her mother about how great her life is going. Her mother, still living in the small rural town where Hannah grew up, is about to have a hip replacement, and spurred on by an emotion Hannah can’t quite name, she offers to come home and help.
It is a strange homecoming for Hannah, soundtracked by the songs of 2015, and the long drive from the airport seems almost like Hannah is driving back in time, as she reflects on her time in the town and her friendship with a young woman named Alice, who disappeared. When a friend of Hannah’s mother accuses her of only coming home because Alice’s mother is dying, Hannah becomes obsessed with finding out the truth and finding someone other than herself to blame for what happened all those years ago.
Hannah’s pursuit of the truth leads her to be the listener as two other women unburden themselves of past trauma. Marnie Montgomery, mother of Alice, has lived a life of neglect, abuse and addiction, and now lives as a virtual outcast in the town, as many still believe she harmed her daughter. But, the guilt that Marnie carries over her inability to be a mother, and the impact of her own terrible upbringing – told in a section break in Marnie’s own voice – allow the reader to build sympathy for this unsympathetic character, as well as showing another side of Alice that Hannah was never privy to.
This structural pattern continues as the trail of clues lead Hannah to Rachel Olney, an English teacher whose kindness towards the lonely and mistreated Alice is twisted into something inappropriate when a past injustice returns for a second go around. Berry allows her three women to tell their own stories, and to give their version of an absent Alice, in an act of love and atonement for the ways their inaction may have led to whatever harm befell her.
At its core, Down the Rabbit Hole explores the question that many of us surely ask during the more difficult times – am I a good person? As Hannah revisits her teenaged diaries, looking back on the unkind things she wrote about a person she claims was her best friend, she is eminently relatable to anyone who still feels a cringe when they think about their teenaged self.
This is a book that does not shy away from depicting trauma and abuse, and though (spoiler alert) you may not ever know what actually happened to Alice in the end, there is a great satisfaction that comes from Hannah’s learning to be kinder to herself instead of trying to run away from the things that have happened to her.
Berry’s literary style and evocative settings provide a sense of beauty which backdrop a story which is more about the ugly sides of life and how we deal with them. This one is ideal for readers who loved Dirt Town by Hayley Scrivenor or An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Shaeden Berry’s Down the Rabbit Hole is available now from Echo Publishing. Grab a copy from your local bookshop HERE.
