Reading room Great read

The Ripping Tree by Nikki Gemmell, HarperCollins

- JULIET RIEDEN

Nikki Gemmell first conceived of this, her great Australian novel, more than a decade ago. “I was living in London, dreaming of the tall blue skies of home,” she tells The Weekly. “I moved back to Australia in a great rush of thankfulness. But then life crashed spectacularly into the writing process – a new baby arrived alongside several more books and the death of both my parents, which knocked me for six. But my protagonist, Tom, wouldn’t let me go. I returned again and again to her.” This haunting pageturner is the result.

“It’s a historical thriller, a big departure for me,” Nikki says. There are heart-stopping moments and an undercurrent whodunnit that runs through to the final page. But it is the exquisite poetry of Nikki Gemmell’s language that soars.