- Published: 4 February 2020
- ISBN: 9780143792086
- Imprint: Bantam Australia
- Format: Trade Paperback
- Pages: 352
- RRP: $32.99
Riptides is an absolute tour de force, a tempest of a novel that examines the fragility and strength of family, the impacts of our decisions, truth and lies, loyalty and betrayal, set against the backdrop of the pyrotechnic mid-1970s in Queensland… Beating beneath it all is that universal question – what does it mean to be human? I found Riptides simply unputdownable.
Matthew Condon
Riptides is set in Australia in 1974 and 1975. These were the years of early disco, pop, funk, reggae, glam rock, hard rock, and heavy metal. Punk and hip-hop were on the horizon. Film scores were elevated to art form. The two narrators of Riptides are in their mid-twenties when the story opens. This is the music they listen to and love.
One bad decision can tear your world apart . . . December 1974. Abby Campbell and her brother Charlie are driving to their father’s farm on a dark country road when they swerve into the path of another car, forcing it into a tree. The pregnant driver is killed instantly. In the heat of the moment, Abby and Charlie make a fateful decision. They flee, hoping heavy rain will erase the fact they were there. They both have too much to lose. But they have no idea who they’ve just killed or how many lives will be affected by her death. Soon the truth is like a riptide they can’t escape, as their terrible secret pulls them down deeper by the day. https://www.penguin.com.au/books/riptides-9780143792086
Ponder this with your book club: can one bad decision tear your world apart?
Kirsten Alexander reflects on growing up in Brisbane in the 1970s, and how this inspired the setting and characters in Riptides.
