The Gulf is an acute, moving and uplifting story from the inimitable, alchemical imagination of Anna Spargo-Ryan. Skye’s sixteen, and her mum’s got yet another new boyfriend. Trouble is, Jason’s bad news. Really bad. Now mum’s quit her job and they’re all moving north to Port Flinders, population nobody.
She’d do anything to keep her ten-year-old brother safe. Things she can’t even say out loud. But maybe she’s in love, too, a bit. Local footy legend Raf has such warm hands. He helps her forget, just for a minute.
Things she can’t even say out loud. And when Jason gets violent, Skye knows she has to take control. She’s got to get Ben out and their mum’s useless as. The train home to Adelaide leaves first thing each morning and they both need to be on it. Now… Everything else can wait.
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Anna Spargo-Ryan has worked in digital marketing for 15 years, including time on Ramsay Street, in the Formula 1 pits and on bus magazines. Her short fiction has been published in Kill Your Darlings, and she also writes on parenting and mental health for The Guardian, Overland and Daily Life, among other publications.
The Gulf is published by Pan Macmillan Australia and is available from all leading book retailers including BookTopia.
Image: The Gulf by Anna Spargo-Ryan