If You Find Me was first published in 2013 and is Emily Murdoch’s debut novel. It is a stand-alone contemporary novel that centres on a teenage girl who has been reunited with her father after ten years. Since its release, the book has been nominated for numerous literary awards and was included on the infamous Blue Hen Summer Reading List alongside the likes of The Miseducation of Cameron Post and The Fault in Our Stars.
Most fourteen year old girls worry about boys and school but Casey’s first priority has always been survival. She lives in a caravan in the woods with her drug-addled Mama and seven year old sister, Jenessa. They have no electricity, heat or running water and her Mama’s only command is that they stay hidden and tell no one that they’re there. This is not easy on Casey as Mama frequently disappears for weeks at a time, leaving it up to her to ensure that Jenessa is cared for.
When two strangers appear at the camp, Casey doesn’t know whether to fight or flee. The woman is from the social services and claims that they received a letter from Mama, telling them that she could no longer look after the girls. The man is her father – the abusive man that Mama once fled from – and Casey is horrified to discover that they’re going to be left to his care.
Yet not all things are what they seem and it quickly becomes apparent that her father is one of them. As he welcomes the girls into his life, Casey begins to learn that perhaps the world isn’t as dark and cruel as Mama led her to believe. But ten years in the wilderness has hardened her and she struggles to adapt. Part of her still longs for the forest and the terrible secret that she has left there…
Arkham Reviews 