Leave the Girls Behind

We assume we can spot a psychopath from across the room... Nineteen years ago, Ruth-Anne Baker's childhood friend was murdered by convicted killer, Ethan Oswald. With Oswald dead and the case closed, everybody tells Ruth it's time to move on - but she believes there is more to the story. And only the wilfully ignorant or easily duped would fall for their charms.When another young girl goes missing from their small town, Ruth becomes convinced that Oswald had an accomplice, someone the police overlooked. If no one has told you this yet - it's not quite that simple. So begins a journey that will draw Ruth across continents and perilously close to three women, each connected to Oswald in a different way. The deeper she delves, the more she suspects one of them knows the truth. About her childhood friend. About the missing girl. And, perhaps most dangerously of all, about Ruth herself... Blending blisteringly taut suspense with a moving exploration of the ways in which violent crime ricochets through the lives of those left behind, Leave the Girls Behind is a darkly beautiful read that will linger long after you've turned the final page, for fans of Bright Young Women and Notes on an Execution.

The most wonderful book. Unusual, beautiful, feminist, gripping, deserves to win prizes. I loved it so much., A brave and timely novel that will fuel the debate on women's rights to walk safely through our streets. I raced through the pages, anxious for resolution, yet at the same time not wanting this beautiful writing to finish., I fell head over heels in love with this heartbreaking, beautiful and hugely important novel. Jacqueline Bublitz's prose is luminous and the up-all-night, just-one-more-page plot is brilliantly clever and original. Everyone should read this book., An exquisitely written, absolutely devastating novel, which gives a voice to all the women who never made it home.

Jacqueline 'Rock' Bublitz is a writer, feminist and arachnophobe who lives between Melbourne, Australia, and her home town on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. She wrote her debut novel Before You Knew My Name after spending a summer in New York. Her second novel, Leave the Girls Behind, is out in October 2024.