In the Clearing
Amy has known only life inside the Clearing, a closed rural community governed by strict rules and a fear of the outside world the Elders call the "Blue Devils." When a new girl is brought in — one who refuses to conform — the fragile order Amy has always trusted begins to crack.
An hour outside Melbourne, Freya Heywood teaches yoga and raises her young son behind a wall of security systems and panic buttons. Twenty years ago something happened that cost her a child, and she has spent every day since keeping the past at arm's length. But when a local girl goes missing, the danger she has feared draws closer.
J.P. Pomare runs the two narratives in parallel, tightening the tension until they intersect. Loosely inspired by the real Australian cult known as The Family, In the Clearing is a taut, unsettling psychological thriller about control, survival, and the long reach of the past. It was adapted into a television series.
A girl raised inside the Clearing, loyal to its Elders until a newcomer arrives.
A mother near Melbourne hiding from a traumatic past.
The controlling matriarch of the Clearing.