> Skip to content
Read an extract
Play sample
  • Published: 20 August 2018
  • ISBN: 9780143792666
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 11 hr 15 min
  • Narrator: Jennifer Vuletic
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $32.99

Gorgeous Girl




Award-winning writer Mary K. Pershall details her heart-rending personal experience of raising a beloved child who couldn't cope with reality, and ends up in a maximum-security prison convicted of murder.

‘The only way to comprehend this tragic story of mine is to write it.’

On the 10th of February 2017, there was a sentencing hearing for murder in the Victorian Supreme Court. The young woman in the dock, who sat quietly with her hands in her lap, had perfect skin and light-brown hair tied back as neatly as a private school prefect’s. When the judge asked her to confirm her plea, the young woman answered in a clear and polite voice. ‘Guilty, your Honour.’

That killer is Mary K. Pershall’s beloved daughter Anna. She is twenty-eight years old, tall and beautiful, with an effervescent wit and a university degree in psychology. She also hears the voices of demons. After Anna finished uni, she just could not meet the demands of adulthood, and the voices became overwhelming. She attempted to silence them with alcohol and weed, with the abuse of her prescribed medication, and with ice. But the evil howling would not stop.

Award-winning author Mary K. Pershall brings a unique and insightful perspective to a story that is at once devastating and uplifting, and proves that a mother’s love – even in its darkest hour – can shed light and provide hope to families in crisis.

  • Published: 20 August 2018
  • ISBN: 9780143792666
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 11 hr 15 min
  • Narrator: Jennifer Vuletic
  • Pages: 384
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Mary K Pershall

Mary K Pershall writes novels for 'tween' aged girls, including the popular Two weeks in Grade Six, which she co-authored with her teenage daughter Anna. Narrator Kaitlin, like her authors before her, has trouble fitting in at school, and this causes her much heartache. Kaitlin confronts high school in A Term in Year Seven, and samples middle America in Escape From Year Eight.

In Mary's most recent release, the Ruby Clair series, she again explores the complicated relationships in the classrooms and home of a twelve-year-old. But this time, some of the most important people in Ruby's life are dead.

This series draws its inspiration from Mary's own childhood encounters with ghosts.

Mary has also written novels for older readers, including the award-winning You Take the High Road, plus an Aussie Bite, Too Much to Ask For, and an Aussie Chomp, Making Jamie Normal.

Mary gives talks at primary schools about what it was like to grow up in a haunted house, and how she uses that experience to create her stories.

Also by Mary K Pershall

See all

Awards & recognition

Davitt Awards

Shortlisted  •  2019  •  Debut books

Davitt Awards

Shortlisted  •  2019  •  Non-fiction crime books