Wimmera

I very much enjoyed Wimmera by Mark Brandi.  This is his debut novel.  It is a dark story is set in a small town somewhere in Victoria, Australia, initially in the late 1980s.  Two boys, Ben and Fab are close friends who stick together and stand up to the bullies at school.  A new neighbour moves in to a house close to Ben's place.  This changes the boys' friendship.  Twenty years later Fab is still in the town trying to see a way out of his dead-end existence.  This is great writing.  Beware, there is graphic material as well as some parts which are only alluded to.  There is a lot of jumping between different time periods.  It is a haunting story, one of those stories, for me at least, that you continue to think about after reading the last pages.  I hope to see more of this author. 41/2/5