Ballad for a Mad Girl | Vikki Wakefield
Everyone knows seventeen-year-old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She's a prankster and a risk-taker, and she's not afraid of anythingexcept losing. As part of the long-running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe. That night she experiences something she can't explain. The funny girl isn't laughing anymore. She's haunted by voices and visionsbut nobody believes a girl who cries wolf. As shes drawn deeper into a twenty-year-old mystery surrounding missing girl Hannah Holt, the thin veil between this world and the next begins to slip. She can no longer tell what's real or imaginedall she knows is the ghosts of Swanston, including that of her own mother, are restless. It seems one of them has granted her an extraordinary gift at a terrible price. Everything about her is changingher body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends dont understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness? I trace the word with my finger. It shimmers. A sharp impact near my ribs knocks me sideways and the pipe seems to buckle and twist. My legs lose grip. Close by, someone is sobbing as if their heart could break. Vikki Wakefields first YA novel, All I Ever Wanted, won the 2012 Adelaide Festival Literary Award for YA Fiction, as did her second novel, Friday Brown, in 2014. Friday Brown was also an Honour Book at the Childrens Book Council of Australia, in 2013, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Prime Ministers Awards. Vikkis third novel, Inbetween Days, was Highly Commended in the 2016 Barbara Jefferis Award, was a 2016 CBCA Honour Book and was shortlisted for the 2016 Prime Minister's Awards. Vikki lives in the Adelaide foothills with her family. Fans of intelligent, unflinching, spine-crawling thrillers...will love Ballad for a Mad Girl. Books + Publishing Im obsessed with Vikki Wakefields words. SeriouslyId be happy reading her grocery list. Alpha Reader Everything you already love about Vikki Wakefieldplus a spine-tingling supernatural mystery. Ballad for a Mad Girl is brilliantly creepy and thrilling. Fiona Wood Theres a dark side to being the funny one in the group. This is a piercing, creepy tale about a wild girl who could lose herself to a ghost. Vikki Wakefields writing never fails to give me chills. Emily Gale Vikki Wakefield writes stories that will break your heart. Readings Ballad for a Mad Girl is brilliant, edgy and unsettling. Grace is a tough and sympathetic anti-heroine. I felt her grief and, even when I cursed her curiosity, was compelled to follow her to the storys satisfying, cinematic end. Simmone Howell Vikki Wakefield is one of Australias best YA writers. I couldnt put down Ballad for a Mad Girl. Cath Crowley
Ballad for a Mad Girl | 
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