by Michelle Prak
Publisher: Simon Schuster, 2025.
Review:
by Ola Kwintowski
Michelle Prak’s novel, Barren Cape, is an exploration of the housing crisis, friendship, and fractured family dynamics. The setting of an abandoned and derelict resort provides added drama and tension. Mac and Erika are two friends who, despite having jobs, are forced out of the rental market. With nowhere to go, Erika returns to a stifling family home with no privacy and a waitlist to use the bathroom—not an ideal place to invite a potential boyfriend back, one she has struggled to find the courage to approach. Mac drifts from couch to couch, her situation gradually leading to homelessness. Their struggles are raw and unflinching, shedding light on experiences of many in our community.
Prak weaves a narrative with tension and plot twists that veer down unexpected paths. Just when you think you know where it’s going, Prak throws in another curveball. The shifting dynamics between Mac and Erika—both their loyalty and their simmering resentments—add a compelling emotional depth.
Barren Cape probes themes of economic disparity, the fragility of stability, and the way relationships—platonic and romantic—bend under the weight of external pressures. Prak’s portrayal of homelessness is unromanticised, revealing the grinding reality of trying to hold onto dignity when everything else slips away.
While there was tension and pacing changes to ensure an engaging read, the crime element was a little lost. There was a dead body, but the story plot did not revolve around, or engage with it sufficiently for me. For a crime story, I would have liked more suspense.
For those seeking a fast-paced, character-driven story, Barren Cape delivers an engaging read while shedding light on a crisis too often ignored.
Publisher’s blurb:
An abandoned resort seems the perfect place to hide, but is Barren Cape a refuge or a trap?
Former housemates Mac and Erika are homeless.
Well, Erika is fine; she just has to live with her parents until she can find another rental. Mac’s situation is much worse – family isn’t an option, and she’s surfing the couches of her increasingly exasperated friends.
Driving around one lonely afternoon, Mac discovers Barren Cape. Once destined to be a luxury escape, now it’s just wire fence and grey cement.
It’s stark, but quiet. There’s no harm in staying a little while…
From the bestselling author of The Rush comes a spine-chilling thriller about what happens when people are pushed to the edge and forced to make unthinkable choices.