A group of school-leavers: free at last, ready to party, expectations high. A remote island on the Western Australian coast wasn’t exactly the plan, but they’re not going to let that hold them back. Leonardo, geeky, asthmatic, shy and prone to anxiety, has landed with them. He’s terrified—he’s definitely not part of this cool gang. Super high-achiever Kaiya is trying to forget her frustration with her drug-addicted sister as well as dealing with pressure from the popular girls to lose her virginity. Mason, footy jock with the physique to match, is coming to terms with his secret desire for his best mate, Jared. And Jared wants a week off from his relationship with Val so he can have sex with as many girls as possible. But the party takes a dangerous turn when Val is drugged and a man is later found dead on the beach. Blame, fear, mistrust, coverups, power plays and dark secrets tear the group apart and expose the deadly tensions beneath the surface. And each teen is forced to confront demons that will lead them either to devastating tragedy or transformative triumph. Whoever survives the week will never be the same again. The Brink is a raw, powerful novel that pulls no punches in its authentic exploration of masculinity, sexuality, mental health, drug and alcohol use, relationships and sex. Holden Sheppard takes the teenage experience to the next level.
Author
Holden Sheppard is an award-winning West Australian author. His debut novel Invisible Boys (Fremantle Press, 2019), about three teenage boys coming of age and coming to terms with their sexuality in the regional town of Geraldton, won multiple accolades, including the 2019 West Australian Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer and the 2018 City of Fremantle Hungerford Award. In 2020, Invisible Boys was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and was named a Notable Book by the Children's Book Council of Australia. The novel is now in development as a television series. Holden's second novel The Brink (Text Publishing, 2022), about a group of school leavers whose post-graduation holiday is thrown into chaos by a death, won the Young Adult Book of the Year Award at the 2023 Indie Book Awards. The Brink is currently shortlisted for the 2023 NSW Premier's Literary Awards and was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by The West Australian. Holden's writing has been published in books including Growing Up in Country Australia (Black Inc, 2022), Hometown Haunts (Wakefield Press, 2021), How To Be An Author (Fremantle Press, 2021) and Bright Lights, No City (Margaret River Press, 2019). He has written articles for WA Today, 10 Daily, the Huffington Post, the ABC and DNA Magazine. His creative works have been published in journals including Griffith Review, Westerly, page seventeen and Indigo Journal. When he's not writing, Holden works out at the gym, plays touch footy (AFL), barracks for the Collingwood Football Club and occasionally works as a labourer. He lives in Perth with his husband.
