All the Missing Children

Ilene, a working-class mother, is struggling to survive and desperate to reconnect with her children, Jack and Lonnie, in the aftermath of a near-fatal tragedy.

But her children vanish, setting off a chain reaction within the community. Suspended detective Omar helps out with the investigation, uncovering disquieting clues, but he keeps getting pulled away by a dangerous cold case. Benji, a recovering addict, finds peace by breeding lorikeets and caring for his mother, only to have his clean life upended by a stranger’s menacing threat. Nera, a city lawyer grieving on a country farm, wants to find out who killed one of her animals and is faced with increasingly strange and unsettling answers.

In this gripping tale of human frailty and the other-worldly, each character must confront the mystery of what really happened to Jack and Lonnie.

PRAISE FOR ALL THE MISSING CHILDREN: ‘Gamieldien’s prose is clear-eyed about the manifestations of trauma, visceral and uncanny in its observations of everyday life.’ –Meanjin  

Author Biography

Zahid Gamieldien is an author, screenwriter, editor and writing tutor. His short fiction has been published in literary journals including Overland, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, Island Magazine and many others. His work was listed for the Richell Prize and selected for inclusion in the ‘best of’ fortieth anniversary edition of The UTS Writers’ Anthology. His screenwriting has been listed for awards, and as an editor and writing tutor, he’s helped several authors get their work into print. Most recently, he received funding to undertake a residency at Varuna House and a major grant from Create NSW to write his next novel.