About this item
Beth Mahony is a stay-at-home mother of two daughters, Lucy and Charlotte. She's also a blogger, whose alter ego, Lizzie, paints a picture of a busy, happy life. Originally from Australia, Beth and her family have lived in New Jersey for ten years. When an opportunity to relocate to Australia arises, the Mahonys decide to return to their native country. The move comes at the perfect time: Charlotte, the youngest daughter, has been accused of being the ringleader of a clique of girls whose dangerous initiation rites leave a child in hospital. In Newcastle, Lucy and Charlotte attend a prestigious all-girls school, and Beth and her husband gradually settle into their new life. The almost immediately popular Charlotte is thrust back into the spotlight when she is blamed for bullying a classmate to the point of suicide. With Charlotte refusing to take the blame, the bullied child's parents seeking retribution, and her husband and mother-in-law doubting Charlotte's innocence, Beth is forced to examine her children's actions critically -- at a heartbreaking cost. The Golden Child tells the story of two families' heartbreaking realization that there are no guarantees when it comes to parenting. The novel grapples with modern-day specters of selfies, selfishness, and cyber bullying to expose the complex anxieties of the female psyche.
About the Author
Wendy James is the author of seven books of fiction, including the best-selling The Mistake (Penguin, 2012) and the Ned Kelly Award-winning Out of the Silence (Random House, 2005) . Her latest novel, The Golden Child (Skyhorse, 2018) was shortlisted for the 2017 Ned Kelly Award for crime fiction. Her award-winning short stories and assorted non-fiction have been widely published in Australian literary journals, newspapers and magazines. Wendy works as publications editor in the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at Macquarie University and has a PhD from the University of New England. She lives in Newcastle NSW, with her husband and two of their four children.
