Wing

by Nikki Gemmell

A class of teenage girls from an elite private girls' school go on a camping trip into the Australian bush. Four of the girls - a girl gang, a group of best friends dubbed 'The Cins' by the teachers - become separated from the main group. A male teacher volunteers to look for them.

None of the five come back.

A major search immediately gets underway. Days crawl past, agonisingly, with no sign of the girls or their teacher. The Principal of the school, godmother to one of the missing students, is desperately trying to hold the parents, the school community - and herself - together. She needs to find out what happened before the police do. Finally, separated and traumatised, the four girls re-appear. But the male teacher does not.

And The Cins aren't talking.

Wing is unforgettable. An immersive, propulsive, headlong, heartrush of a read. Provocative, sharp, bristling with intent, it is both raging and tender. A novel about the fault lines in female friendships. Between mothers and daughters. Between older and younger generations. And of course, between men and women. It is a novel that meets its times head on, with great power, honesty and urgency.

As the author of the international sensation, The Bride Stripped Bare, Nikki Gemmell defined sex, desire and identity for a generation of women. Now, two decades later, she comes full circle, with another incendiary novel about what it means to be a woman today.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Audiobook

258 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2024

About the author

Nikki Gemmell has written four novels, Shiver, Cleave, Lovesong, The Bride Stripped Bare and The Book Of Rapture, and one non-fiction book, Pleasure: An Almanac for the Heart. Her work has been internationally critically acclaimed and translated into many languages.

In France she's been described as a female Jack Kerouac, in Australia as one of the most original and engaging authors of her generation and in the US as one of the few truly original voices to emerge in a long time.

The French literary review "Lire" has included her in a list of what it calls the fifty most important writers in the world - the ones it believes will have a significant influence on the literature of the 21st century. The criteria for selection included a very individual voice and unmistakeable style, as well as an original choice of subject. Nikki Gemmell was selected along with such novelists as Rick Moody, Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Froer, Rohinton Mistry, Tim Winton, Colum McCann, Michel Faber and Hari Kunzru among others.

Born in Wollongong, Australia, she now lives in London.

Reviews

[Sarah Mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately the blurb and the marketing (I was told it was for fans of Yellowjackets) don't accurately represent the book, which I think is going to be detrimental! The story of the 4 missing girls and their teacher is background at best, and barely explored. The vast bulk of the book is the internal musing of the school principal on her life and career, the other characters and her relationships with them, social issues and gender roles and their impact on herself and the other characters. Nikki Gemmell is an excellent writer and it is rare to read something written entirely in second person. However I'd picked it up on the basis of the story - so I found myself skimming and skipping entire paragraphs and even pages just hoping to find that plot and being really disappointed in that regard.

[Annetta · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first I was grabbed by the narration but after 80 pages it was irritating . I really want more of the actual disappearance of the girls . I really only got the inside of the principals head
The style of writing did become annoying and the plot did not move forward ..
I did skip a great deal ..style so annoying
The last few pages were ok.
Not to sure what to make of this
Very variable .. At first engaging then annoying .. then quite powerful at the end.

[Amelia O'Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I 'get it'. I understand what the author was trying to do. The story was good enough to keep me reading but the narrator's tone made me want to shake her.

Four girls go missing in the bush during a school hiking trip, their male teacher goes back to find them and only the girls return. This isn't a spoiler because it is on the blurb however, were two thirds of the way into the book before the girls return so to me the blurb itself is a spoiler.

But I think the events of the story are not the point. The narrator spends most of her time reflecting on raising strong girls and the pressures of being a private school principal. Her conflict of interest with her god daughter being one of the missing girls and her feelings of devotion to this child despite her being what sounds like a pretty awful teenager. And a fair bit of time on how this will impact a new, prestigious role she has been offered and her desire to get out of the private system.

Maybe it is my bad experiences with the awfulness of school girls and the inability for teachers to see the bad in their favourite students but the way the narrator puts awful girls on a pedestal and critiques the one she sees as the not pretty, not worth being part of the group girl just made me mad.

I give Wing three stars for the concept but in trying to highlight the strength of women I think the author just highlights that women can be equally as awful as the patriarchy they are trying to smash.

Maybe that was the point and I didn't actually 'get it'?

[Tea Cloud · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book with one of the worst writing styles and least compelling characters and plots I have read. It reads as 100 pages of angry, discriminating feminism disguised as a crime fiction.

Only finished it since I paid $30 to buy it.

Prose
Irritating to read, incredibly repetitive. There was so much telling and not showing. Spends 90% of the book recounting different iterations of the following four thoughts:
1. I’m so worried about the missing people
2. I miss my goddaughter, she’s such an amazing firecracker young feminist
3. fuck the patriarchy
4. I’m going to lose my new job offer

There were random large spaces in between words and sentences that are not grammatically correct for no good reason.

Plot
There was no plot. 150 of the pages are the protagonist agonising over the 5 lost people. When four of them return, she continues to agonise over the one remaining lost person for another 100 pages.

The chapters are split into days since the 5 people went missing, and each day follows the same repetitive cycle: protagonist is feeling stressed and out of control, protagonist prays for the girls to come back safely, protagonist worries about her future job prospects, protagonists goes into random flashbacks showcasing feminine power or patriarchal oppression.

Even the ending is not particularly interesting or surprising.

Characters
None of the characters were compelling or complex. The story is told entirely through the perspective of the school principal, who comes off as a self absorbed, judgemental, ‘feminist’, angry, controlling person who can’t see beyond her very limited and hypercritical view of the world.

The Feminist Perspective
I feel compelled to add this in as it was such a large part of the story, arguably more focused than the actual plot of the missing people.

The entire feminist perspective in this story is confusing and contradictory. There are aspects which I would agree with, such as the spiel at the climax of the story about GPs who tell women with pain to get over it, the men’s shampoo being cheaper than women’s, safety features being tested on men only, Cin’s questionably consent of having sex with the teacher’s nephew, etc. These are real examples and depictions of gender inequality which are great things to write about, get angry over and start a discourse on.

What I don’t understand is the protagonist, the self proclaimed feminist, would constantly judge and put down other women throughout the entire story. Examples being:

1. She compares stay at home mums to working mums, mocking the stay at home mums for being so ‘busy’ with ridiculous things like pilates.

2. She randomly speculates on her goddaughter’s virginity (who is about 15 or 16 in this book). Why is this her business? She also makes very strange assumptions that her fierce goddaughter will eventually lose herself and fall head over heels for a boy.

3. She consistently looks down on Elle, the ‘forgettable’ one, the ‘ugly’ one, the boring one. Why is a 30 something year old principal mocking a high school girl?

4. She randomly makes comments about how single mothers of only daughters are the most blunt and honest people, but also some of the most annoying to deal with.

5. She has disdain for heavy makeup and high heeled looks.

6. She generalises men as very needy and helpless.

For someone who proclaims herself as a feminist, the protagonist sure does like to make assumptions, generalise, diminish and stereotype multiple groups of men and women for no good reason. Because of this, I do think this book fails even in the thing it so clearly wants to do: portray a genuine feminist perspective and narrative.

[Caren · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment! I struggled to finish the novel, finding a cast of unpleasant characters - both the adults and the teenaged girls associated with the elite girls' school. When a group of the girls go missing on a bush camp trip, as well as the male staff member who went looking for them, the Principal is torn by her personal association with one of the girls and her mother as well as by her responsibility towards the other 3 girls, their families, and the school community. Because the novel was written like a memoir of the Principal, readers plod through 293 pages of self-doubt, personal history, and the droning voice of an unhappy woman who dissects the state of women in a world driven by men.

[Eva · Rating 2 out of 5]

*no spoilers, ARC reviewed*

Premise sounded good, but execution was weird, if not a bit ramble-y.

This book is written in the second perspective (using You) and therefore I wouldn’t say it’s for everyone. Quite honestly I was enjoying it, if not a bit bored, until I reached the 2/3 mark and read Nikki’s take on the autoimmune disorder “Hashimoto’s” - which I have.

Honestly it’s been a while since I read something so offensively ignorant about a relatively common immune disorder. Seriously? Calling it a “middle-aged women’s disease” and that it will “turn you into a slug”, interspersed by comments about how your “body will betray you” and essentially waste away appearance wise. Im aware this is the characters perception, but if you’re going to make these comments, you should at least be CORRECT about what Hashimoto’s does to a person. HYPOTHYROIDISM, which is linked to Hashimoto’s, MAY cause symptoms of lethargy and weight gain. Hashimoto’s itself DOES NOT. All indicates is that your immune system attacks your thyroid, it does not inherently mean you have hypothyroidism. Seriously it takes one google search. The narrator never mentions hypothyroidism. Shows how much effort she put into the writing, I guess.


EDIT: the page after (229 I believe in the ARC) literally says “… exact dose of Hashimoto’s drug should be…” I’m actually in shock. There’s no drugs for Hashimotos, except an immunosuppressant, maybe? You take medication for hypothyroidism which I’m assuming she’s referring to. Synthetic hormone pills, which treat hypothyroidism but NOT HASHIMOTO’S. Regardless you will still have Hashimoto’s. Seriously you couldn’t Google this??


This might be a symptom of the early release copy I received but the formatting was also horrendous. 1.5 spacing (maybe even double?) with the lines stretched weirdly in order to fit the page margins, leaving huge gaps between words.

Fine read for those who enjoy 2nd person story telling.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really struggled to read this due to the overworked prose. The use of “Fulcrum” on the first page already had me suspicious this was not going to be an enjoyable read. Soon followed by the “voluptuousness of her love”, which confirmed these suspicions.

If the author happens to read this review by any slim chance, please stop over complicating your writing. I promise if you simplify things a bit, your ideas will be expressed far better.

“Write the best story that you can and write it as straight as you can.” —Ernest Hemingway

[Kate Betteridge · Rating 1 out of 5]

The blurb on the back of the book is quite misleading, I thought this would be more of a thriller but instead you get pages of internal dialogue written in second person specifically discussing social issues and her relationships. Could have been good but not what I was expecting going in.

[Margaret Galbraith]

DNF I had to skim to see if this got better but nope! It’s a weird writing style. Short and sharp and far too much swearing and other expletives for me. Why do authors think this adds to a story nor why it’s needed. It just becomes boring as if they had to include these words because they couldn’t thinking of anything else? Is it to shock? I wasn’t shocked but just felt it was unnecessary. The first few pages had me saying “okay … but I’ll give it a go” then I needed to skip through.

The blurb sounded good but I never heard the author talk at Adelaide Writers Week so perhaps she would have enlightened me. I loved Picnic at Hanging Rock which this is supposed to be like …. And “An Explosive contemporary literary thriller”. I don’t think I’ve read this author before but this has put me off for now.

[Kate Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 - I did enjoy this, but the blurb doesn’t actually reflect the storyline. So I initially kept waiting for the story to shift to the plot that was indicated. Once I realised it wasn’t going to happen, then I settled into the story as it was written and enjoyed the unusual style of the book.

[Sophie Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt like it took me years to read this but I think it’s cause I started it in 2024 and finished in 2025

[Marles Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Well behaved women do not make history”.

I will start at the end of this book. I caught my breath with its emotional impact. It was those very few last lines that can made the difference in how this book resonated. Wing was an examination of emotions in flight, the desire to keep people safe, to be brave to let others, and yourself, fly free. Wing was a fierce emotively charged book. It pulled me into the mind of women, and what happens within their minds.

Wing was written from the second-person, the principal of an all-girls private School. It had an intense level of intimacy that exposed crumbling instability and anxiety, rising with each moment the Cins, the group of girls missing in the bush, along with a male teacher (“the Swiss army knife of men”) who had gone in after them. The principal remained unnamed throughout the story. Her connection to the girls was through Cinnamon, or Cin, her goddaughter. No-one knew of this connection. Cin’s mother, Mig, was the narrator’s estranged best friend from high school, who pushed the narrator away, their long-lasting friendship disintegrating painfully slowly and unexplained. After four days the missing girls emerge, changed and not speaking. What does their silence tell us?

Women are complicated. Women break each other as much as they lift each other, and this story exemplified this. That searing feeling of being let down, stabbed in the heart, being broken, to eat away at that inner confidence. Women can be connected so intensely but then battle to tow the line. If you can’t work to the rhythm of other women you can be cast aside, and pushed to return to the fold, or be expelled as a threat to the status quo of mediocrity. The four missing girls were soon to enter a world where the patriarchy continues to reign, testing waters at every moment. This book scorched my heart, and is a book I want to talk about, to explore the anguish of women

Q: Has there been a woman in your life who has taken you under her wing?

Book 1️⃣4️⃣4️⃣▫️ 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ #firstinbestread #gifted #harpercollinaustralia #NIKKIGEMMELL #bookreview

[Klee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wing is a soul-stirring exploration of womanhood, power and patriarchy, and resilience, framed against the backdrop of a harrowing mystery. Told through the perspective of a high school principal, who also happens to be the godmother of one of the missing girls, the novel is an intimate dive into a mind grappling with guilt, fear, and the fierce determination to uncover the truth.

Gemmell’s writing is raw and introspective, capturing the protagonist’s emotional turmoil with heart-wrenching honesty. Her inner monologue flows like a beautifully chaotic train of thought, laying bare the vulnerabilities and contradictions of a woman in a position of both authority and deep personal investment. It’s this duality - the professional versus the personal - that gives the story its poignancy and depth. You feel for her on multiple levels.

The feminist themes resonate powerfully. The principal’s journey reflects the struggles of women who must remain strong in public while privately navigating profound pain. The portrayal of the missing girls, and the dynamics of trust and betrayal add layers of tension and provoke age-old questions about the societal pressures on young women.

This novel is provocative yet tender, with moments that feel so achingly real they’ll linger with you long after the final page. As a mother, this screamed a truth at me. It’s immersive and addictive - I couldn’t put it down. Gemmell has crafted a story that women, in particular, will empathise with deeply, but its universal themes make it a must-read for all.

I read this in one day! Highly recommended. Wing isn’t just a story; it’s an experience that will stir your heart and, no doubt, challenge some perceptions.

[Craig and Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wing is a contemporary literary tale taking inspiration from an Australian classic.
Picnic At Hanging Rock is iconic, both book and movie are known all over the world.
This story takes inspiration from them and ends up with an interesting and compelling read.
A girl gang called The Cins from a posh school go missing while on a camping trip in the Australian bush.
The foursome and a male teacher, who goes looking for them disappear, not to be seen again.
The search begins and the principal deals with the parents and the negativity in the community.
The girls come back but the teacher does not and no one is talking.
A mystery drama plot, interesting characters and a fascinating narrative make for a controversial read.
I liked how the different point of view perspective was perceived and it added to authenticity of the storytelling.
To me it was like the iconic, eerie atmospheric book on acid but in the most delightful way.
This is a book that has mixed reviews and won’t please everybody but I recommend you give it a go and deciding for yourself.

[Iona Carys · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Because how else are we supposed to bring about change, if not through anger? Because women pay the price for male insecurity again and again, and we must never stop calling it out.”

Okay I enjoyed this! Had to get used to the second person POV, but then I devoured this quite quickly. Don’t read the blurb and expect an investigative thriller vibe- this is a lit fic steeped in feminist rage (which is right up my alley 💪🏼).

As someone who works in a school, I enjoyed stepping into the POV of the principal of an elite private girls school as she navigates the critical incident of 4 girls and a male teacher going missing on a school camp. The story unravels slowly as the days go by, and the principal reflects on her experiences as a woman, the role she has in shaping the next generation of women, her hopes for them to not be broken by men in a patriarchal society, and on her own life and relationships (and judgment from others) as a woman who prioritized her autonomy and career over having children.

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful perspective on gender power and politics, but unfortunately the writing style detracts from its impact. Written as an internal monologue/stream of consciousness in the 2nd person, the plot becomes bogged down and all too repetitive. The themes are compelling, the arguments impressive but it’s all so strangely disappointing. In addition, the main characters are all so awful and our principal so overly dramatic. No one would take the abuse this woman takes and see it as an expression of love.

The ending is superb but there is a lot of nothing before you get there. 3.5⭐️

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Writing style was prohibitive to enjoyment. Such a shame because it sounded like it could have been a good story.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contemporary picnic at hanging rock but very unlikeable characters.

[Kerryn Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can appreciate why this book resonates so deeply with many readers. The author’s inner monologue offers thoughtful reflections, particularly around themes of feminism and the experience of raising daughters. At times, I found myself genuinely pausing to consider the observations woven throughout the narrative.

However, for much of the story, it felt like one long monologue, with very little dialogue or interaction between characters—at least in the first half. Because of that, the pacing felt quite slow, and the plot only began to gain momentum toward the end.

I also struggled with the second-person writing style (“You walk up the stairs… You call your friend…”). While I understand it’s a creative choice, I personally found it confusing and hard to connect with. The sentence structure and the way speech was written sometimes made it hard to tell who was talking.

Overall, this just wasn’t the right style for me at this point in my life. But I can definitely see why others have connected with it and found it meaningful.

[Hannah Banks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't really enjoy this at all. The interesting use of second person narrative is probably what got me to the end (and I've loved everything else I've read by Gemmell). I found that this didn't give the audience any credit and got caught up in lecturing and explaining. The lack of subtly failed to move me, and whilst some may need to hear the message here, those people are pretty unlikely to pick up this book (or any book). Instead I found it repetitive, I didn't believe in the characters and the plot was lacking.

[Lily Twyford · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very interesting premise, but not that well executed in my mind. I appreciated the social commentary throughout, however sometimes felt very repetitive. The pacing also felt super off, way too quick in some parts but mostly dragging throughout. Appreciate an Australian author and context though, I'd say 2.5 but rounded down to 2 stars.

[Ranjana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A raw and intense mystery. However the use of second person did annoy me a bit and I found that the plot could’ve been tighter.

[Carmen Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
Very suspenseful and I loved the story. Too much talk about feminism and how perfect Cin was.

[Elysha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Four students and a teacher from an elite private school go missing in the Australian bush. This story is uniquely told via the inner monologue of the school Principal, in the days that follow.

The insights and social commentary were brilliant, sharp and compelling.

Whilst it is a book where you want to find out what happened, I didn't find myself wanting to rush through to the end. I enjoyed going along with the Principal's thoughts and perspectives, examining what it is to be a woman today. I absolutely loved this.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captivating at first, felt a bit lagging in the middle, then a fast race to the finish with a real or imaginary fairy tale?

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m very used to reading books told from third or first person pov so reading this one written in second person was a bit of a struggle to get used to. The story of the students takes a background seat with the story mainly following the internal musings of the school principal throughout this traumatic event and mingles with her reminiscing on her past as well. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it had focussed more on the teenage girls. I love a story about wild or strong teenage girls so a little of them would have made a big difference in my enjoyment of this one I think. Overall didn’t quite hit the way I wanted this one to for me but if you like an internal dialogue kind of story then this might be the one for you.

[ADakota · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is all sorts of wrong in this story :

- [ ] cliched writing and concepts
- [ ] nothing refreshing about the point of view of the protagonist (and author I suspect) about the role and reality of being female
- [ ] cringy pandering to the young female clique of the school, constantly referred to as The Cins, which is a futile attempt at subversion. The play on the word sin is evident, secondary character is called Tam(sin).

It’s cliched, repetitive, indulgent. Too much interiority in the central character: the tone of it is relentless and badgering. There are no redeeming qualities in any of the characters. And the fawning over a young teenager, the leader of a clique (Cinnamon, Cin, Sinisin, The Cins etc.), whom the protagonist (the principal of an elite private school) deems as her Golden Flower, referring to her as brilliant, creative, a gifted writer… is nauseating. All we are shown in the action is a cliched selfie-taking teenage girl with a potty mouth, caught in the social-media age of virtue signalling and pronoun pondering; she’s a narcissistically entitled, talk-to-the-hand elite-private-school mean girl, vacuous with arrogance.

This cringy pandering to The Cins, is a futile attempt at subversion. The play on the word sin is evident; the secondary character is called Tamsin(/sin), and yet none of their action matches the obsequiousness of the main character’s worldview.

“The Cins have a strange power over knowledge, notoriety, secrets in this place. The more sinful and silent the group seem, the tighter and more powerful they become.” Pp 230. They are approximately 15 years old. The main character wonders at one point if Cinnamon has ever had sex, and once asked her if she was gay when she was 13. You’re a career-driven principal of an elite private school, get it together! They’re just kids.
She refers to Cin as having a strong bout of testosterone. Pp262. Well what is it, is it girls trying to be as tough as boys, or girls with solid inner strength that is entirely feminine?

There are no thought-provoking refreshing new concepts of gender politics. It’s just the same old views of patriarchy and tom-boy feminists (The Cins) pushing at boundaries. The far-left fixations feel injected for effect, appealing to the trend of wanting to be contemporary in both language and ideology.

The cliches continue: a childless woman knows nothing of parenting, a childless single woman is loveless and barren; men in general have opportunity, strength and clarity above women, women have to gouge their way through life. Men are dangerous, men are sexual opportunists. The contradictions abound.

Flawed characters make good story, but this relentless internal monologue of self-loathing, being emotionally wobbly to the point of migraine, caught in the victimhood of singledom, childlessness and ageism is tipping the scales into contrived. The interiority is exhausting. It's one thing to have an unreliable narrator, another to self-indulge the protagonist and leave the reader on the periphery.

The whole thing was utterly boring. It’s no modern ‘Picnic at hanging rock’. That part of the story barely makes the page.
This is essentially a story about a childless menopausal woman fawning over the young, popular female student(s) inappropriately. It’s incongruent with a lack of self-awareness.

Oh and apparently: “‘Boner garage’ is what teenage girls are writing on their bare tummies; with an arrow pointing downwards…being artfully photographed in bedrooms with fairy lights…as celebratory birthday selfies. Happy thirteenth birthday, little one…” Pp 181

Don’t worry. I had to look that one up too!

It goes on to continue the cliche that females are used and abused by boys for sexual gratification and poor girls will just have to accept feeling ‘viciously lonely’ because that’s ‘how it is’.

Oh and the title, I missed that somewhere. I have no idea how it relates to the story. Happy to be enlightened.

Ultimately, Urgh. Two stars.

[Cindy Butler · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Horrendously written. This book was written in the "in the head" perspective of the headmaster, and I swear there is barely a coherent sentence written.

I was expecting a great Australian thriller, but this was painfully dull.

[Sarah McMullan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Love Love


A blazing tale of what it means to be a woman at the most tumultuous times of your life: puberty /motherhood/ (peri)menopause; and how feminism fits into these changes.
Gemmell's take on an Australasian Riot Grrl (to peg the generation) turned headmistress of a prestigious private girls school feels very close to the bone for me as a childless godmother.
Never has the world been so fraught, so gloves off and teeth bared for girls as they become women. Yet never before have there been so many resources, role models, so much information and support to help them grow and bloom into the women they want to be.
But we need to ensure our boys are raised the right way too, and remember that the patriarchy prowls.
This is not the world of SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELLING PANTS anymore, and we need to teach girls to be better friends: more honesty, kindness, compassion; and the realities of female friendship - frenemy dynamics, transient friendships, and fear of the other.
Resilience is the most important thing to teach a modern girl if she is to survive on her own and with others.

Is Cin resilient or manipulative? Discuss. ;)

[Zali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexa play Teenagers by My Chemical Romance!

Also - GOD I LOVE WOMEN?? And feral little teenage girls I love them and how hard they love and hate, the Cins were perfect.