Latest Reads: This Nowhere Place Natasha Bell.

They call them the Dover Girls . . .

Ten years ago, Mo arrived at the white cliffs as if from nowhere, befriended by teenagers Cali and Jude. They thought they’d save each other, yet within months their friendship would see two of them dead and the third scarred for life.

Now documentary maker Tarek and his film crew are in town, asking difficult questions, dredging up old resentments, looking for secrets in the silence around what happened that summer.

Because in the shadow of the white cliffs it’s easy for stories, histories and people to get lost… And as Tarek will discover in small town’s the truth is something that must be carefully unburied – in case it buries you . . .

This Nowhere Place is a tense and atmospheric mystery about the aftermath of a fateful and fatal friendship.

Natasha Bell’s The Nowhere Place is a very timely and relevant mystery novel, with a classically narrated past present style, full to the brim with relatable layered characters and packing an emotional punch in its central themes and settings.

The nowhere place of the title is Dover, Kent, a town that has more than its fair share of social divide, where those seeking refugee status live a kind of half life, often vilified in a world desperate to fob them off onto someone, anyone else…

The author sets the scene pitch perfectly, using a pair of local girls and a mystery death and fall to explore issues that are hugely important in our time. This has all the elements of a twisty psychological thriller, a healthy dose of political undertone and through the voice of the documentary maker Tarek, somewhat of an insight into personal human tragedy but without ever crossing the line into preachy assumption that we, in our safety, can know what it’s like.

I loved this because it was intelligent and compelling, a page turner with heart and soul and I have to give a nod to the fact that the present here is actually 2026, thus avoiding the elephant in the room of our current situation.

I wont give anything away, but following on from the utterly excellent Exhibit Alexandra (I refuse on principle to call it by its generic and bland rebrand title) I think it’s safe to say that Natasha Bell is a genuine talent, an author I hope to follow along with for many years to come.

Highly recommended.

You can purchase This Nowhere Place (Michael Joseph) Here.

Happy Reading!

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