This story is book-ended by the discovery and investigation of the death of a woman.
Evans has framed his novel in this way and then, almost in protest to modern-day journalism, he delves into the lives of the people close to the dead girl.
The Divide provokes awareness of how we are bombarded daily by news of death yet we rarely hear the backstory of the person who died and why it happened beyond the first lot of sensationalistic reporting.
Evans’ novel isn’t about a crime or the investigation.
Instead he is telling the story of the girl’s family, past and present, and the events leading up to her death. He probes, and he reveals, but he ultimately leaves it to the reader to decide whether anyone is responsible for her death.
Was it just bad luck? Did she make the “wrong” choices? And, ultimately, should people be held responsible for the reactions of others?
– Book review by SuzAnne King, Friends of Noosa Library
