Lowbridge by Lucy Campbell

Happy Friday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Lucy Campbell's Lowbridge. 

In 1987, a girl goes missing in the small town of Lowbridge. The case is never solved. 

Cut to 2018. Katherine and her husband have come to Lowbridge in the wake of terrible loss. Facing a growing problem with sleeping pills and alcohol, Katherine stumbles on the local historical society and throws herself into helping set up events highlighting Lowbridge history. 

When she sets her sites on the opening of the women's health center in the mid 80s, she unwittingly opens a can of worms the whole town would rather see buried. And in doing so, she becomes obsessed with not one, but two missing girls from that decade. 

I have a confession to make: I'm a little obsessed with Australian and New Zealand crime fiction!

This one is a bit quieter than some of the others I've read. It's a slow burn even though it starts with a girl going missing. 

But after that tragic beginning, the story jumps back to the months leading up to the event and alternates between 1986/87 and Katherine's story in 2018. 

Campbell teases out the story, hinting at the tragedy Katherine and her husband (who grew up in Lowbridge at the time of the missing girls) have suffered. But it takes a bit for that to come truly to light. Mostly, it's the affect of their loss that's the focus. And Katherine is really in a bad place. Though she keeps this to herself, she finds distraction in learning about her new home and friendship with the women of the historical society. 

And it's here that we get the first hint about the identity of the the missing girl(s). Because the 1980's story focuses on three girls (two in particular), Louisa, Sim, and Tess. 

Like I said, it's a bit of a slow burn, but I really enjoyed how the story unfolded. The anticipation of Katherine finding the story, all the while following the girls and wondering about their fate. 

Lowbridge is an excellent debut, one I highly recommend to anyone looking for an intriguing story with a rich, small town setting.