The Grapevine (Kate Kemp, Hachette)

As summertime scorches Canberra and the 1970s draw to a close, a severed foot is discovered on the mountain behind Warrah Place. When it’s identified as belonging to Antonio Marietti, the handsome young man who lives in what residents call ‘The Italian House’, the neighbourhood is aghast: Who would have killed the universally loved Antonio? Nobody is as gutted as 12-year-old Tammy, adrift in life between a sour experience of primary school and the looming reality of high school ahead. Determined to be the one who figures out what happened to her friend, she hides and listens and asks questions nobody wants to answer. But Tammy’s not the only one trying to understand the murder—or how to feel comfortable in the world. With seamless use of the era’s language, Kate Kemp vividly depicts the sweltering reality of Australia’s capital nearly 50 years ago, and its changing political and physical landscape. She has a deft hand with multiple characters—ones so realistic that readers might imagine these people behind their own neighbours’ doors—and never overwhelms readers with too many to keep track of. While the killer seems clear from the outset, there is no absolute clarity in a street like Warrah Place, which is rife with secrets—some kept close, some shared, and others misinterpreted. With a youthful (and wilful) detective reminiscent of Tippy Chan from RWR McDonald’s The Nancys and the heady nostalgia of Holly Throsby’s Clarke, Kemp’s debut is an engrossing slice of deceptive life.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Fiona Hardy is the author of the How To series of middle fiction books, and a bookseller at Readings. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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