Published 19th June 2025 by Mantle.
From the cover of the book:
In the past, we had always spent our summer holidays in remote places. That had always been my mother’s preference. This year was different . . .
As the long summer holiday stretches ahead, ten-year-old Alix wants to spend every second on the beach and in the water. But, with her parents unusually distracted and her older sister now more interested in boys, she finds herself alone.
Then she meets Kahu at the beach and he tells her about The Mystery. Two years ago, a girl went missing and none of the adults could find her. So the new friends decide to investigate – because people don’t just disappear.
But, as Alix and Kahu search for clues, they stumble upon secrets they wish they’d left alone. Is Alix's holiday house as safe as it seems? And is her sister putting her trust in the wrong people?
***********
Mid 1980's, New Zealand. In an uncharacteristic move, Alix's mother decides this year's summer vacation should be spent in a popular beach resort. Ten-year-old Alix longs to spend every minute on the golden sand and in the water, but her parents are preoccupied, and her older sister, fifteen-year-old Vanessa, is much more interested in boys than spending time with her annoying sibling.
Feeling lonely, Alix strikes up a friendship with Kahu, who is also on holiday for the summer. He tells her about the girl who went missing without a trace, and the two of them decide to search for her body around the town's murky lagoon. But as they ferret out clues, they end up discovering far more than they bargained for - particularly when it comes to Alix's family.
This glorious 1980's coming of age story is the incredibly impressive debut novel of Jennifer Trevelyan, whose writing captivated me from the very first page. The story is told from the point of view of ten-year-old Alix, whose summer holiday is rather different from normal this year for a number of unsettling reasons.
Trevelyan does an incredible job of portraying the events of this slow-burn thriller meets poignant family drama through the eyes of a ten-year-old, creating a story that works beautifully on two levels - one which immerses you in the bemused thoughts of a child as she tries to make sense of perplexing events within her own family, and in the world around her; and another in which you, as the reader, understand the real significance of her experiences.
Knotty themes run beautifully throughout around family, friendship, marriages in trouble, the growing pains of adolescence, and the way adult motivations and behaviours are inexplicable to a child. They weave cleverly through the chilling thriller elements about the fate of a missing young girl in a very accomplished way. Trevelyan pulls a blinder by using the menacing presence of a creepy neighbour in the house next door to Alix too, who may, or may not be, an innocent old man.
I loved how Trevelyan floods this novel with 80s nostalgia, and how she uses names sparsely in keeping with the level of knowledge of a child. In fact, you actually only learn Alix's real name (rather than her nickname, Ally-Pally) at a crucial point in the climax of the story - which chimes with a watershed moment between her loss of childish innocence and an understanding about the horrors of the grown-up world.
Absolutely one of my favourite books of 2025, with shades of The Lovely Bones. This strings you along with your heart in your mouth, caught up in Alix's intensely palpable fears and bewilderment, but it is not without a full complement of tender moments too. Superb! I predict a great future for Jennifer Trevelyan...
A Beautiful Family is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.
About the author:
With a background in photography and children’s publishing, Jennifer is now a full-time writer living in Wellington, New Zealand, with her husband, son, daughter, dog and cat. When not at her writing desk, Jennifer can be found in the garden.
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