There can be no straight road home.
A young man is released from a Sydney prison, his hands empty, his identity gone. He catches a southbound train out of town, then hitchhikes west. He hasn’t been home for ̀fifteen years.
For days Frank rides the highway through an unforgiving landscape, surviving on what he ̀nds and the kindness of strangers. As he edges closer to a home he struggles to remember, his boyhood looms. Out of the past, something is coming that will tear through his fragile hold on reality.
Chilling, haunting, suspenseful, Gone is a journey through one man’s splintered world.
‘It affords an intimate feel for hitchhiking. The narrative evokes the jarring luck of slowly walking the road, and the sudden rush of the ride; towns and country are sharply drawn in their hostile monotony, while the constant loss of characters impresses a grinding isolation.' Weekend Australian
‘This is a book that builds tension slowly and works its way under your skin and into your heart. It is a book which captures and intrigues the reader from the first lines.’ Townsville Bulletin
‘This is an impressively crafted novel set in the world beyond the “embarrassingly thin” fringe of life that is coastal Australia.’ The Big Issue
‘The taciturn Frank keeps our interest. The voices in his life are haunting and insistent, like the novel itself. Mills has proved herself as one of the emerging talents on Australia's literary landscape.’ Sunday Tasmanian
‘Frequently powerful and highly attuned to both landscape and psychology … After a well-received first novel (The Diamond Anchor, 2009) and now Gone, Mills is clearly a talent with even stronger novels ahead of her.’ Australian Book Review
‘Gone, by Jennifer Mills, is a remarkably good book. I couldn’t put it down, and now I’m sorry I’ve come to the end of it.’ ANZ LitLovers
‘Mills has composed a highly original and sophisticated piece of fiction that combines her peculiar talent as a writer with her experience as a young hitchhiker.’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘Gone is superbly crafted. It is at once prosaic and lyrical, wry and elegiac, and the subtlety with which Mills cleaves open the psyche of her hero is truly impressive. This is an exceptional book, and probably the most under-rated Australian novel of the year.’ Canberra Times
‘Gone is a meditative road novel with a compelling psychological edge, notable for its insistent prose and its tightly controlled symbolism.’ Weekend Australian
‘Mills’ insight into the smallest detail of the environment is brilliant. Her writing is beautiful and the protagonist is a believable, poignant character. A great, if haunting, read.’ Annette Marfording, 2bbb
