4.5 Stars

This was amazing, a gay coming-of-age story set in the Australian Outback that was both beautiful & devastating - I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this!

The Nowhere reads somewhat like a cross between contemporary fiction & young adult, Chris Gill is truly a talented writer who pulls you in right from the first page. The multiple timelines worked well here - this had an air of mystery to it, the mantra repeated throughout continuously had me on edge trying to figure out what exactly had happened in the past. There are a ton of heavy topics covered here, but they were done so with grace - main CWs being physical & emotional abuse and homophobia, particularly internalized homophobia. As a line in the book states, things aren't often black & white & I feel like Chris did a great job of conveying the complexities of the characters & their situations, especially with the relationship between Seb & his father. The ending really hit me like a ton of bricks & I think this strikes up a ton of important conversations.

I highly, highly recommend this - a huge thank you to Brett (@bretts.book.stack) for putting this on my radar as Queer Your Shelves' March 2021 pick! I'm really looking forward to reading more of Chris' work, can't wait to see what comes next!