When Chloe Higgins was 17 she thought her HSC mark would determine the rest of her life. She was at home studying for her trial exams as her father's car veered onto the wrong side of the Monaro Highway, near Canberra, collided with a four-wheel drive, flipped over and burst into flames in 2005.

Her younger sisters, Carlie, 14, and Lisa, 9, died. Her father survived with minor injuries. The three had been driving back to their home in western Sydney after their annual trip to the snowfields.

For most of us, such tragedies exist as a glimpse of wreckage on the evening news, a tribute story in the paper, a snippet on a radio traffic report.

Chloe Higgins has published a memoir, The Girls, about her life after the death of her two sisters in a car crash. Credit:Christopher Pearce

We don't hear about the wild howl that escaped from Higgins' father when he woke in hospital to discover his two daughters were dead. The two girls' rooms left untouched and recreated in a new house. The plastic bag containing pieces from the crash site. The sleepless nights, waking nightmares and endless crying.