Shellybanks

Kate Delaney #2

by Louise Milligan

A novel of buried secrets, unimaginable trauma and how the love of family can pull you through to a brighter future from Louise Milligan, bestselling author of Pheasants Nest.

On the sands of Shellybanks, where tides can quickly turn treacherous, journalist Kate Delaney once nearly drowned. Years later, reeling from a violent crime that has upended her life in Melbourne, she returns to Dublin to comfort her beloved aunt Dolores—only to discover Dolores has her own buried trauma.

As a teenager, Dolores was drawn into a disturbing religious movement that stole her youth, her freedom, and so much more. With Kate's help, she is determined to confront the powerful network that made her endure years of silence and shame.

Shellybanks is a haunting tale of secrecy and survival, charting how two women find strength in each other as they reckon with Ireland's hidden histories and the scars that endure across generations.

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Ireland, Mystery

Audible Audio

Published March 3, 2026

About the author

Louise Milligan is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist for ABC TV's Four Corners, the Australian national broadcaster's flagship current affairs documentary program. She is the author of two bestselling non-fiction books: Cardinal, The Rise and Fall of George Pell and Witness, An Investigation into the Brutal Cost of Seeking Justice. Her books have been awarded multiple prizes, including the Walkley Book Award, the Davitt Awards Best Non-Fiction Crime Book, the Melbourne Prize for Literature People's Choice Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award's People's Choice prize, the Sir Owen Dixon Chambers Law Reporter of the Year Award, a Press Freedom Medal and a shortlisting for the Stella Prize. Louise's journalism, particularly her coverage of historical institutional child abuse and the experience of women in the criminal justice system and parliament, has broken national and international news, sparked government inquiries and led to profound cultural change and law reform. She started her career in newspapers and is a former High Court correspondent and political reporter. Born in Ireland to an Irish mother and Scottish father, Louise moved to Australia as a child. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and two children. Pheasants Nest is Louise's first novel.

Reviews

[Sheree | Keeping Up With The Penguins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dolores’s story is heartbreakingly sad, and I suspect all too common for Irish women of a certain age. I also want to commend Milligan for the deft way she handles the fallout from Kate’s trauma in Shellybanks. It continues to affect the character, but it doesn’t define her, which is a balance that’s very tricky for fiction authors to get right.

My full review of Shellybanks is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shellybanks follows the events of Pheasants Nest, and yes, you do need to read Pheasants Nest first. The entire plot of the first book is spelled out early in Shellybanks. Kate is taking some time to recover from her ordeal, when her aunt Dolores reaches out to ask for help.
The book starts out recounting Kate's travels and trauma. Then we go back to Dolores' past for a good chunk of the book. This book is sold as a mystery/thriller, but it really is not. The mystery element doesn't get going until 2/3 of the way through. Even then, we know what happened, the characters are just trying to work it out. I guess this is supposed to be a character driven drama, but it just didn't pull it off. The emotions in this book don't ring true. They say out loud how they feel in clunky dialogue, instead of feeling them.
It wasn't an unpleasant read, I had no problems getting through to the end, but it didn't wow me.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Louise Milligan can write! I picked this book up and just wanted to keep going.

[Richard Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read; engaging, well-paced with likeable characters and amusing dialogue all while tackling some very serious subjects. I liked Louise's insights on the changes in both Irish and Australian contemporary society.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Australian journalist Louise Milligan entered the world of crime fiction with a thriller called Pheasant’s Nest. In that book a journalist, Kate Delaney is kidnapped, abused and essentially left for dead in a small, locked room under a bridge. It is probably a bit of a spoiler for that book to reveal that Delaney returns in Milligan’s second novel Shellybanks, a very different affair that cleverly manages to build from the main character’s traumatic experiences.
When Shellybanks opens, Kate Delaney and boyfriend Liam cut short their recuperation holiday in Greece after a call from her Irish aunt Dolores following the sudden death of her fiancé. In Dublin, Kate reconnects with her family but also slowly learns that her Aunt Dolores has her own history of trauma. The middle of the novel is Dolores’ story, a tragic one of her as a teenager and one based on actual practices of coercion, abuse and exploitation.
Shellybanks joins a host of recent books, such as Claire Keegans Small Things Like These, that have exposed the ways in which Irish teenagers were exploited in the second half of the twentieth century. In this case it is a cabal using the guise of religion to entice and then essentially enslave young girls. This makes the middle section of the novel in particular tough to read as Milligan details the way in which Dolores is separated from her family and trapped in a life that she did not choose. A practice that Milligan suggests, in the real world aswell, may still be occurring.
Louise Milligan is an investigative journalist as is her protagonist. And Shellybanks does have the feel of a piece of investigative journalism that has been lightly fictionalised. In doing so, Milligan does not try to answer every question that she raises. Some of the players are left deliberately vague. But by using fiction, Milligan is able to draw parallels between her characters’ lives and experiences and so deliver a darkly fascinating and emotionally resonant novel.

[ValTheBookEater]

this is much much better than pheasant's nest. the newly introduced characters are very compelling, dolores and christy in particular. there were times I actually felt myself get overwhelmed by imagining the sheer abuse these Irish women went through. I think pacing was a bit of an issue where it was slow in the beginning and middle but fast-paced towards the end and speeded through to the resolution (if we can call it that). there's a chapter called reunion which you can tell by the way it addresses what will happen and gives a summary before going back to the present. Kate from Pheasant's Nest features but not as much and I do think her trauma was appropriately handled. I do think her relationship with Liam and the way he left all felt abrupt and as if to clear the path for the focus on Dolores' story. However, I do think this was ultimately the right choice, I wish it was just a bit more clearer. We are getting a third novel in this companion series and I'm interested to see where this goes. But this one's for all abuse survivors, especially who are abused and enslaved by institutions claiming to be about religion and holiness. I would love to see a novel exploring a legal case and the criminal justice system, because I believe Louise Milligan would be able to tackle that subject matter and draw upon her journalistic background.

[Helen O'Toole · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I finished Pheasant’s Nest, I said I hoped Louise Milligan would write more fiction. In this book,journalist Kate Delaney is the main character but this time most of the novel is set in Ireland in the 1970’s plus some grim Italian situations. I know how grim & cruel were conditions in Ireland especially for young vulnerable women & particularly for pregnant girls. Her aunt has kept a secret for 35 years. She was trapped within a cult run by demonic and controlling evil & predatory women. When she is pregnant after a loving short relationship with a Nigerian student who then dies in a car accident, she is treated as a terrible sinner and plans are afoot to have the baby adopted. When the dear little biracial baby is born, the planned parents refuse to accept her. Thankfully she is taken in by another childless couple who absolutely love her but young Sinead( her name) always wonders about her mother.
I could not put this novel down even though it is very hard to read & Kate is still suffering PTSD from her rape & imprisonment. You don’t need to have read Pheasant’s Nest first because the terrible details are briefly explained as Kate relives her ordeal.

[Jacki van de Schoor · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. What a beautifully written, atmospheric read. It was full of emotion. I absolutely LOVED it.
I was drawn in immediately, I just couldn't put it down. I read it in one sitting.

I loved Kate and Dolores, they were both charismatic, strong, smart, determined, loyal, and relatable.
I read about Kate's harrowing experience in Louise Milligan's first book Pheasants Nest. Which was also a really good read.

Shellybanks is more focused on Dolores and what happened in her past, than it is on Kate. Although it does follow on with how Kate's life is after her attack and kidnapping.

In Shellybanks, Dolores tells Kate her story, and then Kate helps her to track down people involved in her tragic past.
Set in Ireland, the story is told in a very convincing and empathetic way. Louise is a brilliant author, and I need more books from her ASAP. In the meantime, I'll be impatiently awaiting Louise's next masterpiece.

I very highly recommend.

5 stars from me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, Allen & Unwin, and Louise Milligan.

[Laurena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately I wasn’t aware this was book 2 in a series - the first book is recapped in this book early on so I don’t feel I need to read it now. Historical abuse cases are traumatic, and I have seen some of the author’s reporting on ‘four corners’. I am pleased this story offered some resolution.

[Michele (michelethebookdragon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness I loved this story.

Shellybanks tells a story that is tragic and confronting but has glimmers of hope and rejuvenation for those involved.

Kate Delaney, who we met in Pheasants Nest under rather horrific circumstances, is on holiday with her boyfriend Liam when they are called to Dublin earlier than expected to help Kate's Aunt Dolores.

Dolores Murphy, reeling from the death of her betrothed, opens up to Kate and recounts a tale full of tragedy about her teenage years when she was beholden to a sect like branch of the Catholic church.

The emotions I felt reading the story Dolores was telling were a mixture of anger, horror, sadness and disbelief that people could be so cruel. While everything that Dolores experienced was awful, there was one thing in particular that had never left her thoughts.

When Kate convinces Dolores to go to the gardai and report what happened to her, I found that the story just became utterly fascinating. The respect and care shown by the officers was heartwarming and their determination to help and bring those responsible to justice was amazing.

I loved how this was written and you could feel the care taken to give the story the respect it deserved. There were times it felt like the movie Spotlight as details were uncovered. In a story that was hard to read sometimes there was also some light and hope for the future.

This is a story that won't leave my heart for a while.

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin and #netgalley for an ARC of this before publication.

[Book My Imagination · Rating 3 out of 5]

(it is actually more like a 3.7 star rating)
My thoughts: I wasn't entirely sure where this novel would go in terms of pace, feel and it's hold on me.
But I soon found out it is a book that definitely gripped me.

Kate has endured so much more than any person should, and after helping Dolores through the death of a loved one, Kate is shocked to hear of Dolores's traumatic history.
Wanting to help her as much as she can, they are both faced with the harrowing and cruel history of Aunt Dolores.
This story will surely have readers shocked at the cruelty Dolores and others faced as young women within a religious movement that sold itself as a cooking school.
The mystery woven into the cruelty of Dolores's history is quite gripping and knowing the torment the investigation brings up for Dolores and Kate brings another element to this story.
I found myself eager to learn more about Dolores and the others involved and felt that it was a good story and as much as I liked the tidying up that occurs in the last few chapters, I finished the book wanting more grit.
However, it's primarily about secrets hidden, trauma uncovered, survival, and allowing yourself to heal and find a way forward, even if you have to confront the horrible past that lingers.

[Susan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can honestly say that I enjoyed the book, although the subject matter was at times, truly horrifying. Between this book and the non-fiction Cardinal on George Pell, I do not think Louise Milligan is the Catholic Church's favourite person, well certainly not the Pell apologists, and who thought that some of the abuses carried out historically, were just actions on people slightly misguided.

In a sense this is not quite a sequel to Pheasants Nest, but picks up some of the after effects from the that book. It features the lead character from Pheasants Nest, Kate Delaney. Kate is still recovering emotionally from the Pheasant's Nest events, and she and her boyfriend are holidaying in Greece before plans to travel to Ireland for a favoured aunt's wedding. Sadly her fiance dies before the wedding and Kate and Liam cut short their Greek leg, to arrive in Ireland early to support Dolores. It's her aunt's grief and the revelation of Dolores' history with elements of the Catholic Church in Ireland that provides the plot of the book. This is not for the faint hearted.

Some of this book touches on some of the historical child abuse, Louise has previously investigated in the course of her day job as a journalist, although here its set amongst the poverty and sheer control over the Irish by the Catholic Church. Its also told through the eyes of Dolores who has a child that is taken away from her after the baby's birth.

While I got into the narrative quickly, there were elements that seemed to run too slow, and others too fast. As with any narrative you look for the crises - for me, I sometimes check where this happens physically in the book and I got the sense in this one that this occurred later that other books, and I wondered if Louise would be able to wrap it up and bring forth a reasonable resolution. That she did, but I can't help but feel she cheated a little. I'm not going to mention more as it would venture into spoiler territory.

Overall it was a satisfying read. I get the sense that we may see a Kate Delaney #3 book, and I suspect it will focus on Kate's boyfriend Liam. I saw those loose threads the author left. It will be interesting to see where it goes.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5★, happily rounded up for reasons I'll get to.

Milligan has done it again! In my review for Pheasants Nest I wrote that I hoped she hadn't used up all her ideas, but I should have known that her profession as an investigative journalist would give her a more than generous supply. The main idea that is slowly revealed to be at the heart of this story is a real doozy.

Recovering from the events detailed in the previous book, Irish-Australian journalist Kate Delaney and her partner Liam Carroll are both taking time out from their demanding jobs in Australia to live a simple, island life in Greece for a while. Soon they will travel to Ireland for Aunt Dolores' mid-life wedding, but Greece is where they will heal and think about what the future holds for them. At least, that's the plan.

When a distressed Aunt Dolores calls and asks them to come sooner, Kate and Liam drop everything to be by her side. Family is everything. Under a pall of sadness, something that has been simmering under Dolores' happy-go-lucky surface breaks through, and for the first time, a huge family secret is aired. The middle of the book is devoted to Dolores' story, and let me just say - it's pretty wild. There were times when I thought it was just too far-fetched. But remember what Milligan does for a living!

Even at a surface level, this is a very topical story. We are familiar with all sorts of heartbreaking stories coming out of many different places, but especially Ireland, where organised religion has torn families apart and made lives miserable. This book has a hefty dose of that, but it goes further. If you can resist the Acknowledgements section until the very end, there is an enormous payoff waiting - set aside an hour or so after turning the final page, because you'll want to immediately watch one of Milligan's 4 Corners reports. That's the extra half star right there.

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin and NetGalley for an uncorrected digital advance copy to read and review.

[Jillwilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Milligan’s first novel introduced journalist Kate Delaney – in Shellybanks - Kate reappears, struggling with PTSD. She and her boyfriend Liam are on an extended holiday of sorts in Greece when Kate receives news that tragedy has befallen her Aunt Dolores in Ireland. They therefore fly to Ireland and Kate discovers that what Dolores really wants is Kate’s help to finally tell the story she has kept hidden for decades: the abuse and trauma she endured as a vulnerable teenager when she became “Help”—effectively indentured servants for a cult calling themselves the Group, hiding under the banner of the Catholic faith.

In an interview, Milligan talked about her work as a journalist – which provided useful background knowledge for this novel: ‘Most of the stories I do at Four Corners are about very challenging subjects. The theme is trauma and institutional failure. Clearly the George Pell story was very challenging, as it was taking on an extremely powerful person in the Catholic Church, and someone who also had spent his life cultivating powerful allies.” She later said: “‘I had also met an amazing Irish woman through my Four Corners work who had had a terrible past in a cult-like environment in Ireland in the ’70s, during the same period that my aunties were coming of age in Ringsend. I created this character, Dolores, who had some of her stories, and some of my aunties’ stories, and some stories I completely invented in my head. I wanted to explore the astonishing change in experience in Ireland in just a generation from my mother’s cohort to mine.’” (https://goodreadingmagazine.com.au/ar...)

It is quite recent history that she is exploring. She says: “Parents traumatised their adult children to avoid shame. We are talking about genuine slavery, as well as more subtle forms of oppression. It’s a phenomenon that has had very real consequences for every family in Ireland, to one extent or another. And the dominance of the church in dictating women’s lives had a very big part to play in that.’”

I thought it was a powerful and gripping read.

[Davena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shellybanks by Louise Milligan @milliganreports

Even though I picked Shellybanks from the shelf at my local bookstore and then replaced it, TWICE (and I've got the photos to prove it :D). I finally got the audiobook after being swayed by Bookstagram. And even though I have Pheasant's Nest (unread) in my audiobook library, I didn't realise that Shellybanks was the second book in the same series. I know. Shut up. It wasn't until Pheasant's Nest was mentioned partway through that it clicked.

In Pheasant's Nest, journalist Kate Delaney is kidnapped and left for dead (I'm aware of this because there are mentions to Kate's past trauma in this, the second novel in the series). Shellybanks opens with Kate and her boyfriend, Liam, cutting short her recovery/holiday in Greece. Kate's (most beautiful) Aunt Dolores fiancé has died suddenly, so Kate and Liam head to Dublin, where Kate reconnects with her family and learns that her Aunt Dolores has her own history of trauma at the hands of a cult-like arm of the Catholic Church.

Shellybanks is filled with buried secrets, unimaginable scars, and explores family secrets, shared trauma and survival. This is a crime novel, but it has an interesting point of difference: two women find strength in each other as they grapple with Ireland's hidden histories and scars that span generations.

Big thumbs up! Even though I've spoiled Pheasant's Nest for myself now. I'll move it up my TBR pile. Don't be like me —read them in the correct order—and if you are going to join a cult, make it a duck-based one.

Side Note: I multitasked with this one, with this guy. The background print was definitely yelling pink cockatoo. The majority of Shellybanks is set in Ireland, so maybe it should have been a unicorn.

#designnerd #booksdeevaareads #2026bookshelf
@wavesoundaustralia @readingsbooks #readingsbooks  

[Jackie McMillan · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars)
Shellybanks continues on from where Pheasants Nest left off. As the lead character, journalist Kate Delaney has PTSD from what happened in the previous book, you're better to have read it, lest you find the frequent back references annoying. They're mostly about unwanted and intrusive memories of sexual violence, which author Louise Milligan describes reasonably accurately: "These are the sort of maddening rabbit holes her brain takes her down all the time. It's pointless, and she knows it's pointless, but she does it anyway."

However the follow-up book is not set in Australia. It starts in Greece and move to Ireland, the author's home country, to uncover a story about baby snatching from an unwed Irish teen combined with slavery and sexual abuse. It's not a new story, and you can see Milligan was influenced by the investigative journalism she did in this area with Four Corners.

I find the prose in both books a bit stiff, and when you add an Irish flavour to that, sometimes I found myself having to read sentences over to ensure I caught their meaning. It prevented me from relaxing into the book and the story of Dolores Murphy. I still didn't really like the lead protagonist. The final chapter jumping around in third person perspective does a lot of telling rather than showing: "There are so many loose threads for Christy Redmond and John Barry to tie up." I would have preferred it to have been told from the lead protagonist's perspective. It's an almost but not quite from me.

With thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for sending me a copy to read.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pheasants Nest by Louise Milligan was one of my top reads of 2024. The extraordinary novel introduced journalist Kate Delaney and her terrifying ordeal after spurning the advances of a man in a bar. Shellybanks picks up several months after Kate’s miraculous survival.

Kate, struggling with PTSD, and her boyfriend Liam are on an extended holiday of sorts in Greece when Kate receives news that tragedy has befallen her Aunt Dolores in Ireland. Kate and Liam immediately fly to Dublin to offer comfort and support, but what Dolores really wants—now that she realises time is running out—is Kate’s help to finally tell the story she has kept hidden for decades: the abuse and trauma she endured as a vulnerable teenager, and the search for the infant stolen from her.

Written in three parts, the first reacquaints the reader with Kate, while the second focuses on Dolores’s heartbreaking story. One of eleven children, Dolores’s overwhelmed parents enrolled her in a residential “Cookery School for Young Ladies” when she was fourteen. It appeared to be a promising opportunity, offering a nationally recognised qualification under the supervision of trained instructors. Instead, the students were subjected to indoctrination, assault, and exploitation by women who professed righteousness and piety.

The school delivered none of what it promised. Instead, it groomed the girls to become “Help”—effectively indentured servants for a cult calling themselves the Group, hiding under the banner of the Catholic faith.

Shellybanks does not make for comfortable reading. At various times I felt desperately sad and deeply angry about the trauma Dolores suffered, and about the misogyny and corruption that allowed the Group to thrive. Ireland in the 1970s was a period when women and girls had almost no agency over their own lives, and the dictates of the Church—particularly the Catholic Church—were largely unquestioned.

In a magazine interview, Milligan explains that she drew not only from her own investigative work but also from the experiences of real women, including her own beloved aunts, to bring authenticity to her characters and their circumstances.

As Kate and Dolores grapple with their respective trauma, they find strength in each other’s resilience. And as the darkness of the past is finally exposed, the future becomes just a little brighter.

Haunting and powerful, Shellybanks is compelling fiction.

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novel, Kate Delaney is trying to come to terms with the trauma she experienced in ‘Pheasant’s Nest’. She and her partner Liam have taken time off from their jobs in Melbourne and have travelled to Greece. They plan to travel to Dublin, where Kate was born, to attend the wedding of her Aunt Dolores. But Dolores’s fiancé dies suddenly weeks before the wedding and Kate and Liam travel to Dublin to try to help her.

Kate discovers that Dolores has her own long hidden trauma which the death of her fiancé brings to the surface. Dolores, as a young teenager who is a member of a large family, was drawn into a religious movement which enslaved and exploited her. Dolores was never able to speak of what happened to her or to try to find answers to the many questions she has. With Kate’s help and a sympathetic police investigation, Dolores may be able to face a more positive future.

It took me a little while to be fully drawn into this story. While I felt great sympathy for Kate, it was Dolores’s story which captured my attention. Ms Milligan covers several difficult and uncomfortable issues in this novel. While this is a work of fiction, it reflects the lived experience of far too many women.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although a crime tale, Shellybanks (2025) by Louise Milligan is a powerful fictionalised story of the treatment of children in Ireland. Kate Delaney is recovering from her traumatic encounter with a kidnapper, holidaying in the Greek Islands, when her Aunt Dolores phones her in tears. Rushing to her former hometown of Ringsend, Ireland, Kate supports Dolores as the two women share their grief and past trauma. Eventually, Dolores decides to report her treatment as a young helper to the Gardaí (police), who agree to investigate the allegation of historic crimes. A truly remarkable story told with sensitivity, honesty and an all-too-believable fictionalised account of unwed mothers in 1970s Ireland. It’s a touching tribute, with distingué nuanced characters, in a meld of historic record, family history and human resilience. Despite the potentially overwhelming despondency of the subject matter, Milligan has penned an extraordinary human story that is an avowing, do not miss five star plus rated gem. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.

[Klee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Shellybanks without realising it’s essentially a companion or adjacent sequel to The Pheasant’s Nest, which definitely helps explain some of the emotional weight carried by the main character, Kate. After the ordeal of the first book, Kate returns to her ancestral Ireland to support her Aunt Dolores, who is grieving the loss of her fiancé.

From the start this was completely unputdownable for me. The tension sits just beneath the surface and the story slowly pulls you in, revealing family history, grief, and the long shadows cast by the past. It’s a book that absolutely needs a fair few trigger warnings, as it deals with some deeply confronting and unimaginable circumstances, but it’s also a genuinely moving read.

What really worked for me was the historical fiction vibe running through the story. The sense of place, the weight of history, and the way past events shape the present gave the book a depth that lingered long after I finished it. It’s heavy, but in a thoughtful and powerful way. If you’re prepared for the darker themes, it’s a compelling and emotional read.

[John Cleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shellybanks is rich in insight, warmth and humour in taking readers on a vivid, fast-paced journey through the lives of bold, memorable characters.
Subtle and overt threads build towards a powerful reckoning, delivering comfort for survivors and the prospect of accountability for past injustice.
Louise Milligan continues to draw on her extensive experience as an investigative journalist in writing a skilfully crafted and unpredictable novel anchored in the harsh realities of the past – blind faith, unquestioning belief, coerced servitude, and institutional failure
Shellybanks serves as a timely reminder to cults, sects, and closed institutions that exploit the vulnerable. A reminder that survivors do have a growing audience, whether through fiction or non-fiction, and that audience rejects unjust exploitation.
Just as Pheasants Nest delivered quality reading for the avid reader, so too does Shellybanks.
I look forward to the next novel by Louise Milligan!

[Helen Farch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the follow up to Louise Milligan's novel, Pheasants Nest, where Kate is trying to deal with the trauma of her kidnapping.

However, it is not necessary to have already read Pheasant's Nest to get the full impact of this hard-hitting novel of secrets, survival, grief, an ultimately... hope of new beginnings.

There are so many layers to this story. Both Kate and Dolores find themselves in the position of needing to deal with past trauma before being able to move on with their lives.

This is an at times uncomfortable read, but all the more necessary because of that.

Thanks to Allen & Unwin and Netgalley for the review copy of this book

[Karren Sandercock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dublin, Ireland. Kate Delaney was a child collecting shells when she nearly died due to the dangerous tides at Shellybanks, and an unknown man saved her. Years later Kate and her boyfriend Liam Carroll are on holidays in Greek Islands when her Auntie Delores calls with bad news and they hop on a plane.

Kate and her parents moved to Melbourne, she was recently a victim of a terrible crime and she discovers her aunt has been hiding a secret for decades and the trauma it caused. Dolores Murphy was one of eleven children and she felt like a nuisance and her escape was to visit the library and read. When her mother suggested she attend a cooking school for young ladies, a fifteen year old Dolores jumped at the chance to leave home and despite not caring about learning domestic skills.

Dolores travelled to the countryside near Galway and to The Big House a Georgian manor. In charge was the directress, two teachers, it was linked to a branch of the Catholic Church and they held conferences. What happens here is shocking, it stole her youth, freedom, dignity and she was not the only one and it can only be described as a cult?

Dolores is ready with Kate’s help to report the historic crime, hopefully get justice, for herself and the other victims who have not been able to tell anyone what happened due to the shame and guilt.

I received a copy of Shellybanks (Kate Delaney #2) from NetGalley and Allen & Unwin in exchange for an unbiased review. Louise Milligan is an award winning TV journalist, like Kate she moved from Ireland to Australia as a child and it shows.

It follows on from her debut novel Pheasants Nest and I had no trouble grasping the storyline, my mum is Scottish and so I understood some words that other readers might not be familiar with.

A narrative about young women not being paid for work they did and treated like slaves, adversity, abuse, neglect and forced adoption, while we might not enjoy reading about these topics it’s important for books like Shellybanks to be written, to make people think and be aware it still happens and five stars from me.

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so much better than Pheasants Nest. Although the main character from that book is also in this one, the story mainly concerns the story of Kate’s aunt, Dolores and is mostly set in Ireland. When Dolores was a teenager she was sent to a supposed cookery school run by the ‘Directress’ but it was more like a religious cult. I found this story compelling and hard to put down once it gets to Dolores, it takes a while to get going as the early part focuses on Kate and her ongoing trauma.

[Brody Hitchcock · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this one took quite a while to get into the actual story, and it just didn't hook me quite as much as her first book did.

​The stakes definitely aren't as high in this one. While the first book was incredibly tense, this story focuses a lot more on finding a long-lost relative. Because of that shift in focus, it has a very different pacing—it's much more of a cruisy read where there isn't a massive rush or sense of urgency to get things done.

​Even though it was a bit slower to start and didn't have that same gripping tension, it was still an interesting read overall!

[Jay Dwight · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book continues on from Pheasants Nest, but can easily be read as a stand alone. Journalist Kate Delaney is recovering from the horrific events of Pheasants Nest, and heads to Dublin to support her aunt Delores who has just lost the her beloved partner.

We learn that Delores has a hidden past, and she's endured years of silence after her time as a naïve teenager in a disturbing religious cult.

A totally addictive read revealing horrors that leave permanent scars.

[Jo Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t even begin to express how much I loved this book. It was harrowing, but hopeful (even when it felt hopeless), love and loss. Ms Milligan proves once again that her journalist skills translate to gripping and hauntingly realistic characters, events and dialogue.

If I could give 6⭐️, I would.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a completely engrossing read from start to finish. Highly recommended. You don’t need to have read Pheasant’s Nest first to follow the story but key plot points are revealed which was a little disappointing as I’d have loved to read Pheasant’s Nest next. I possibly still will as I enjoyed this one so much.

[Corinne Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd give this 10 if I could. The trauma Kate endured in Pheasant's Nest and the continuing impact upon her life, and on Liam's life, is sensitively but truthfully handled. This could have been a mawkish novel, but it is full of nuanced reactions to recent and historic trauma. I admit to tears in the final chapters. Truly a great novelist.

[Kim Lenox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to hear that Louise was writing a second fiction book, I absolutely devoured Pheasant's Nest. Whilst Shellybanks continues one of the original protagonist's storylines, this was an entirely different story, which was very enjoyable. Louise's writing style is smart and engaging, suspenseful and is easy to read. I can't wait for the next one.