The Gosling Girl
‘[The Gosling Girl] interrogates the context of a child's crime and simplistic notions of evil by society and the media. It fosters understanding & empathy and draws us deep inside the protagonist's psychology’ – Bernardine Evaristo
‘The Gosling Girl is one of the most moving thrillers I’ve read for some time' – Observer
‘Written with compassion, and an exceptional sense of identity by Roy — born to a Jamaican father and a British mother — it is both striking and powerful’ – Daily Mail
Monster? Murderer? Child? Victim?
Michelle Cameron’s name is associated with an infamous crime. A child who lured a younger child away from her parents and to her death, she is known as the black girl who murdered a little white girl; evil incarnate according to the media. As the book opens, she has done her time, and has been released as a young woman with a new identity to start her life again.
When another shocking death occurs, Michelle is the first in the frame. Brought into the police station to answer questions around a suspicious death, it is only a matter of time until the press find out who she is now and where she lives and set about destroying her all over again.
Natalie Tyler is the officer brought in to investigate the murder. A black detective constable, she has been ostracised from her family and often feels she is in the wrong job. But when she meets Michelle, she feels a complicated need to protect her, whatever she might have done.
The Gosling Girl is a moving account of systemic, institutional and internalised racism, and of how the marginalised fight back. It delves into the psychological after-effects of a crime committed in childhood, exploring intersections between race and class as Michelle's story is co-opted and controlled by those around her. The Gosling Girl is a raw and powerful novel that will stay with the reader long after they have turned the last page.
Jacqueline Roy is a writer of fiction for adults and children. She was born in London and is of dual heritage; her mother was English and her father was a Jamaican sculptor, painter and novelist. Before becoming a writer, she worked in shops, selling everything from bacon to books, but eventually she did a degree in English as a mature student. This led to a career as a university lecturer, specialising in decolonial literatures and creative writing. Her fiction focuses primarily on the ways that those who are marginalised find a voice and their strategies for fighting back.