A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan

Set on New Zealand’s Kapiti coast, A Beautiful Family is an exceptional debut novel. It blends the nostalgia of childhood summers with the suspense of a family mystery. 

Narrated by a perceptive 10 year old, it captures the innocence of growing up, as well as the realisation that the adults around us are often more complicated than they seem.

It’s the summer holidays, and our narrator is left to her own devices: her mother is busy writing a novel and taking long, solitary walks; her father is glued to the cricket on TV, with a drink in hand; her teenage sister is chasing the attention of a local lifeguard. When she befriends Kahu, a boy with a tragic story about a girl who went missing two years ago, the pair set out to become detectives. What starts as a harmless adventure soon uncovers far darker secrets threatening to break her family apart.

I wasn’t surprised to learn this novel has been optioned for film and is being published simultaneously in the UK and USA. The storytelling is impeccable! Jennifer allows revelations to emerge organically through the limited perspective of her young narrator. The power of this novel lies in what remains unsaid - the gaps between what the child observes and what the adult reader understands. This creates a sense of unease that builds steadily throughout the novel, until the final shocking revelations.

“I started this novel about six years ago, writing at cafes before work every morning, and sharing bits and pieces with my writing group. At some stage I became so disenchanted with it that I stuck it in a drawer… but I always thought there was something special about this one. I think it was the voice of our ten-year-old narrator that stuck with me - I knew she deserved to come out of the drawer. Still, it wasn’t until 2023, after completing an MA in creative writing, that I felt ready to have another go at this story.”

“As a child growing up in the eighties I spent many summers on the Kapiti coast with my extended family, where we rented a house very similar to the one described in the novel. One year I remember feeling uneasy about a man who would sit out on his deck and watch us, particularly my mother and sister. I never forgot this. Other than that, those summers were the happiest of my life - interesting that a portrait of such a troubled family grew out of such idyllic memories.”

“Combining elements of suspense, mystery and crime, A Beautiful Family tells the story of how a single eventful summer forever changes the lives of a family who on the surface seem to have it all. In writing this book I was interested in exploring the distance between what our narrator thinks she sees and what the adult reader knows. There’s that interesting moment in life where we start to break away from our parents and wonder if there’s another way; our parents begin to appear fallible; our older siblings are pulling away from us; we want things to be the way they were, but we want to explore the world as well,” says Jennifer.

This is a brilliant family drama and coming-of-age story with an edge. If you enjoy literary family dramas with a sharp edge, you won’t want to miss this extraordinary novel. I can’t wait to read Jennifer’s next novel!

Jennifer Trevelyan has a background in photography and children’s publishing. She is now a full-time writer and lives in Wellington with her family.

Reviewer: Andrea Molloy

Allen & Unwin