the hidden girl by louise bassett
Sometimes you have to do the wrong thing to make things right…
When Melati Nelson wins a scholarship to an elite Melbourne high school, she buries her bad girl past. But after the shool unfairly punishes her, a defiant Mel steals a diary from the school counselor’s office, only to discover a coded cry for help. The diary belongs to Devi, a young Indonesian girl who is being held by traffickers.
Mel races against the clock, in a desperate journey that takes her from Melbourne to Java, to work out Devi’s identity and where she’s being held. Before long the pieces fall into place and Mel must put her own life on the line to save a girl she’s never met.
A gripping and original novel that explores privilege, responsibility, and the difficult and dangerous choices we are sometimes forced to make.