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Wing

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Wing

By: Nikki Gemmell
Narrated by: Fiona Macleod
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About this listen

An explosive, contemporary literary thriller from international bestselling author Nikki Gemmell—Wing is Lord of the Flies meets Picnic at Hanging Rock meets Promising Young Woman.

Students from an elite girls' school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of them—a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers—become separated from the main group. A male teacher volunteers to look for them.

None of the five come back.

A major search immediately gets underway. Days crawl past, agonisingly, with no sign of the girls or their teacher. The principal of the school, godmother to one of the missing students, is desperately trying to hold the parents, the school community—and herself—together. She needs to find out what happened before the police do. Finally, separated and traumatised, the four girls re-appear. But the male teacher does not.

And The Cins aren't talking.

Wing is an immersive, propulsive, headlong, heartrush of a read. Provocative, sharp, raging and tender, it is a novel about the fault lines in female friendships. Between mothers and daughters. Between older and younger generations. And of course, between men and women. It is a novel that meets its times head on, with great power, honesty and urgency. As the author of the international sensation, The Bride Stripped Bare, Nikki Gemmell defined sex, desire and identity for a generation of women. Now, two decades later, she comes full circle, with another incendiary novel about what it means to be a woman today.

'Nikki Gemmell is such an exquisite writer. I'm compelled to re-read, just to savour her unique style, use of uncommon adjectives, her turn of phrase and sentence structures. The story is gripping from the start. This is a story about difficult relationships ... It's about what it is to be a woman today and it's a mesmerising read.' Good Reading

'Brave, vicious and biting yet terribly tender and truthful. I read it in a single sitting, almost without breathing.' Suzie Miller, Prima Facie

'A deftly plotted, taut, compulsive read' Sydney Morning Herald

'Full of rage, joy and hope: I dare you to put it down.' Susan Johnson, Aphrodite's Breath

'Taut, timely and mysterious - and a beautiful evocation of the power and centrality of female friendship.' Kathryn Heyman, Fury

'An unflinching literary tour de force that melds the gripping narrative intensity of a contemporary thriller with profound explorations of female friendship, generational divides, and the complexities and nuances of gender dynamics. Brilliant and bold.' Megan Rogers, The Heart is a Star

©2024 Nikki Gemmell (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers
Psychological Suspense Heartfelt

What listeners say about Wing

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an extraordinary novel

a deep expose into the way relationships develop and how we often miss the tenderness required to appreciate our shared humanity.

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The workings of a mind that didn't need a story.

Perhaps I'm disappointed as I was hoping for more of a plot, rather than the mind-stuff of a school principal. I also found that Gemmell's decision to write in the second person very jarring..When someone is telling a story and continually refers to the protaganist as 'you', I feel alienated, as though this is to do with the storyteller and the storytold and I shouldn't even be there.

One big flaw that turned me off and made me wonder about the authenticy of her writing in general; her description of Hashimoto's disease is just plain wrong and it shouldn't have been. It's easily researched. Hashimoto's is very common and easily treated. I know because, along with many, many people, I have it.

I found most of the characters to be unpleasant. The way in which the principal is treated by her god-daughter is repugnant, and yet it's seen to be some kind of feminist statement. If it was, it went over my head, and I would definitely consider myself to be a feminist. Generally the author's attempts to push the feminist agenda felt laboured.

I know many people enjoyed this book, and that's great. I'm not one of them.

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Could not stop listening!

Excellent, well paced story exploring thought provoking concepts and situations. I enjoyed the unfolding relationships between the characters and their ongoing development. Plenty of social commentary and told through the eyes of an intelligent and rather feminist lead character, a school principal under intense pressure from all those around her, from current society and from unexpected circumstances which are beyond her (usually tightly wielded) control. This book drew me in from literally the first page! *I highly recommend not reading the blurb/back cover, as the story was much more suspenseful when reading it armed with little info. Let this review be enough to tempt you to begin!

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Smart and gripping

Really excellent, so much to think about here. Fantastic for a discussion with friends. Really enjoyed the narration.

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