Ballad for a Mad Girl

Everyone knows seventeen-year-old Grace Foley is a bit mad. She's a risk-taker who's not afraid of anything--except losing. As part of the long-running feud between two local schools in Swanston, Grace accepts a challenge to walk the pipe. That night she experiences something she can't explain. The funny girl isn't laughing anymore. She's haunted by voices and visions. As she's drawn deeper into a twenty-year-old mystery surrounding missing girl Hannah Holt, the thin veil between this world and the next begins to slip. She can no longer tell what's real or imagined. All she knows is the ghosts of Swanston, including that of her own mother, are restless. Everything about her is changing--her body, her thoughts, even her actions seem to belong to a stranger. Grace is losing herself, and her friends don't understand. Is she moving closer to the truth? Or is she heading for madness?

Author: Vikki Wakefield
Publisher: Text Publishing Company
Published: 06/12/2018
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.70h x 5.10w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781925355291
Age Range: 14-17

Review Citation(s):
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 05/01/2018
Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2018
Booklist 05/01/2018 pg. 40
School Library Journal 06/01/2018 pg. 95

About the Author
Vikki Wakefield's first YA novel, All I Ever Wanted, won the 2012 Adelaide Festival Literary Award for YA Fiction, as did her second novel, Friday Brown, in 2014. Friday Brown was also an Honour Book at the Children's Book Council of Australia, in 2013, and was shortlisted for the prestigious Prime Minister's Awards. Vikki's third novel, Inbetween Days, was Highly Commended in the 2016 Barbara Jefferis Award, was a 2016 CBCA Honour Book and was shortlisted for the 2016 Prime Minister's Awards. Vikki lives in Adelaide with her family.