The Shadow Girl
  • Published: 3 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9781864718751
  • Imprint: Woolshed Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $22.99

The Shadow Girl

Formats & editions
EBook
28 Sep 2011
Paperback
3 Oct 2011
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‘I tried to be forgettable. That’s how I survived.’

‘I tried to be forgettable. That’s how I survived.’

The shadow girl never imagined she'd live on the streets. After her parents disappear, life with her aunt and uncle takes a sinister turn. Terrified that the authorities will believe her uncle over her, she flees. She tricks her way into a new school and pretends to have a loving family. No one knows she sleeps in rail yards, sand dunes and abandoned houses. At school she meets the author she will call on years later. Together they piece together the story of how she survived, who helped her, and the friend she wishes she could have saved.

Thrilling, profound and blackly funny, The Shadow Girl is John Larkin's best and most important novel to date.
  • Published: 3 October 2011
  • ISBN: 9781864718751
  • Imprint: Woolshed Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 416
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

John Larkin

Sydney-based author John Larkin was born in England but grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney. He has, at various stages of his writing career, supported his habit by working as a supermarket trolley boy, shelf-stacker, factory hand, forklift driver, professional soccer player and computer programmer. He now writes and teaches writing full-time. John has a BA in English Literature and a MA in Creative Writing from Macquarie University. John’s The Shadow Girl won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Prize for Writing for Young Adults 2012, and The Pause won the Queensland Literary Awards Griffith University Young Adult Book Award 2015.

portrait photo of John Larkin

Also by John Larkin

The Pause
Ghost Byte
Spaghetti Legs
See all

Praise for The Shadow Girl

Tragic, comic and epic, The Shadow Girl is as devastating as it is inspiring.

Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

The Shadow Girl is a white-knuckled thriller with a sassy main character and a terrifying villain, all bundled in with laugh-out-loud moments and savage examinations of what people believe.

James Roy, author of Hunting Elephants, Town and Anonymity Jones

A compelling tale of lost innocence, truth, lies and survival. John Larkin has created an unforgettable character who will take your breath away.

Jacqueline Harvey, author of the Alice-Miranda series

This is a brave story with dark subject matter but Larkin manages to keep the enthralling plot moving with honest writing and by providing hope as the girl struggles not only to survive but to make something of her against-the-odds existence.

Fiona Purden, Courier Mail

Winner, Prize for Writing for Young Adults

Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2012

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Teachers' notes
The Shadow Girl

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