Zoe of a Thousand Smile

Traumatised by the mysterious departure of her father, young Zoë closes herself off from the outside world. Only later does she find the courage to claw back her life by trying to find him.

On reaching puberty, Zoë runs away to find her father, Peter, who lost his job and then disappeared. Before leaving, Peter gave Zoë a cryptic message, which eventually leads her to follow his trail.

In hot pursuit of Zoë is Choppy, her de facto stepfather and a former work colleague and friend of Peter's. Ostensibly he sets off to save her, but his real motive is to make sure she doesn't divulge his dark secret about a hit-and-run death.

Armed with only a vague idea of where Peter might be living, Zoë is befriended by a street-smart runaway known as Little Diva, because of her propensity to break into song.

Together the girls survive a string of adventures before Little Diva is forcibly taken back by her family. Zoë then turns the tables on Choppy and follows him to where Peter is staying. There she witnesses a fiery confrontation between the two men.

Michael Nardella grew up in Melbourne, Australia. This is his second book. His first novel was Third Sepoy from the Left.