Book review: The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland

The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland is a thought-provoking read from the Aussie journalist-turned-author. I’ve read three of McCausland’s previous books and she seems to enjoy unpicking or examining relationships between friends and families. Here we meet Jane, a journalist who returns to her childhood hometown after a former best friend dies. We learn however, though the pair were once close, events from the past split them apart but also left Jane wondering if they really did have anything in common after all.

Paige White kayaked across the lake each morning at dawn. Someone was watching her. Many someones watched her online. But was anyone with her the day her body was discovered?

Paige has always lived a picture-perfect life, documented closely on her social media. The world she has curated exudes an old-fashioned, wholesome lifestyle. Her page is littered with lakeside breakfasts with her daughter, sunny afternoons in the family van, and romantic picnics with her husband. So when she posts an ominous, brooding image and is shortly after discovered drowned, everyone immediately wonders - suicide or foul play?

Jane Masters was one of Paige's childhood best friends, who left her behind to pursue a bigger life in Sydney. When Paige's death makes national news, Jane, a journalist, reluctantly travels home. Struggling with the morality of covering her friend's death, Jane will confront the town she left behind and the dark undercurrents that she's always known run underneath.

We learn Paige and her family were larger than life and pulled others in their orbit. Jane felt relieved for Paige’s friendship but things change when Audrey arrives in town and the three start to form their own relationships with each other. The girls are from three very different families and McCausland is able to reflect how that impacts on each of the girls, in particular how they view life and love.

In the present Paige has died and Jane returns home for her funeral despite not having seen her for years. There’s been intermittent contact but McCausland (initially) alludes to something that had Jane – in particular – distancing herself from the town and Paige. McCausland also touches on the very topical issue of social media as Paige had become quite the ‘influencer’. Initially growing out of a keenness to share news of their transient lifestyle and love of beautiful aesthetics. But it’s grown into something more and put a wedge between Paige and her husband Andy.

Jane is obviously our narrator in the present but we hear from Paige as well – trapped in a limbo where she’s haunted by half-memories and beautiful social media images on repeat, reminding her of the life she’d been living – and there are obvious regrets. We learn that she’d started becoming disillusioned with the online world but at the same time needed the validation she got from adoring followers.

When you’re not getting love or affirmation in the real world, but it’s abundant in your online world, that’s where your energy is drawn. p 175

And there’s a third narrator – someone lurking in the background and we learn Paige had a ‘fan’ who had become a confidante, debating the reality and illusion of the online world.

This is a thought-provoking read on several levels. There are some obvious messages about social media, but also a strong theme of regret – past mistakes we can’t reverse no matter how much we try. A reminder I guess to think (long and hard) about the consequences of our actions. And we see (ultimately) that sometimes those we love can remind us why we need to be the best versions of ourselves.

The Last Illusion of Paige White by Vanessa McCausland was published in Australia in early December 2024 by Harper Collins.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.