Ballad for a Mad Girl

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 anything—except 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 visions—but nobody believes a girl who cries wolf.

As she's 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 imagined—all 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 changing—her body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends don't understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness?

Awards

• Winner, Sisters in Crime's 18th Davitt Awards: Young Adult Novel, 2018
• Shortlisted, CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers, 2018
• Longlisted, Gold Inky Award—Australian Titles, 2018
• Shortlisted, Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature: Young Adult, 2018
• Shortlisted, NSW Premier's Literary Awards: The Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature, 2018
• Shortlisted, Sisters in Crime's 18th Davitt Awards: Debut, 2018