Faraway Girl
Fleur Beale
Penguin Random House New Zealand
2022

May 23, 2022

Faraway Girl is another one of Fleur Beale’s wonderful novels. It follows Etta and Constance as they jump back and forth through time, trying desperately to save Etta’s brother and find a way to return back to their own times.

Etta starts to feel funny around the same time that her brother starts ‘fading.’ She thinks it will pass but the feeling gets worse, almost as if the world is being torn apart, and Jamie isn’t getting any better. They’ve been to see doctors and specialists but no one can figure out what is wrong with him. Then, one morning, the feeling gets worse, and Jamie looks as if he is ready to collapse. It is then that he notices a girl appearing in their bay window as if from thin air.

Constance comes out of nowhere, fading from her time in 1869 and appearing in Etta’s house in 2019. This shouldn’t be possible, but it is! And from the moment Constance appears, Jamie gets worse. This can’t be a coincidence, the two must be related, but how?

They need to find out what was happening and how they can cure Jamie’s mysterious illness, before it is too late! But it isn’t as easy as it seems. Etta and Constance must battle the language barrier that comes with a 150 year difference, as well as dealing with constantly jumping back and forth between their times. Will they be able to figure out what is wrong with Jamie before they run out of time? Will they ever be able to return to their own era, or will they be stuck in another time, forever?

Right from the start of this novel I was hooked, immediately put on edge and wondering what was going to happen to Etta and her half brother Jamie. By the third page I didn’t want to put the book down, I was already so intrigued! I wanted to know what was going to happen next and I think this is something every good author should be able to do for their readers. Beale does this wonderfully and I really admire her ability to hook readers within the first few pages.

I have to say that from the style of writing I did feel that Etta was a lot younger than she was said to be, and I kept imagining a 13 year old, instead of the 17 year old that she was said to be. But this is only my opinion and might differ to that of others. I also found that the changing of perspectives was quite confusing in the beginning, as this happened in the middle of chapters, changing back and forth between Etta and Constance seemingly at random. These changes were difficult to detect due to the flawless transitions between each perspective but as the novel progressed it became easier to differentiate and switch your brain to whoever’s perspective it is being told from.

Apart from these minor things I think the book was really well written and I love the way that Beale is able to show the difference in times, as well as the behaviour expected, through the interactions of both Etta and Constance. We, as readers, can truly experience a glimpse of what life was like in the past through these characters. Constance shows us what it was like for women in the past, but the differences between her world and ours is emphasised by Etta and her behaviour. Before I was never able to imagine what it was like to live in a world where there was no electricity and none of the modern commodities we have today that have become the norm. Where women were treated as objects, servants were not given the slightest glance by many, and people faced so many hardships that we can’t even begin to imagine.

Although Faraway Girl is purely fiction, there must be an element of truth to it, and I think Beale does a really good job of showing the differences between these two completely different worlds. Only after reading this am I finally able to understand a small part of what life was like in the past and I think many others will feel the same. This novel teaches us to be truly grateful for the opportunities that we have now, as in the past others weren’t as fortunate.

Overall, I think that this is an amazing book, although it was probably targeted at a market slightly younger than me. I still enjoyed it though and I think that anyone would like this story, especially those who enjoy suspense, a good mystery and, of course, some girl power!

• Ashika Hira is 16 and lives in Hastings