- In this magnificent novel, published late last year, Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Melissa Lucashenko immerses us in the richness of Indigenous history and culture in Southeast Queensland.
- The story is told from the perspective of the Indigenous people. It's an in-depth portrait of a family and their connections over generations, and how the English colonisers treated them with abject racism. It's a heartbreaking story, full of tragedy, courage, guts, and passion. There are murders, false arrests and abuse on all levels.
- Thankfully there are some English men and women who are sympathetic and understanding, and who defend the Aboriginal people in their employ. They are rare.
- The story bridges two time periods, 1854 and 2024. Young man Mulanyin falls in love with the beautiful Nita in the early colony in 1854 and they bear two children. In 2024 the young doctor Johnny is attracted to the fiery Indigenous activist Winona. Stringing the two periods together is Granny Eddie, a 103 year old fireball. There is a profound connection between them all which is revealed at the end.
- In the meantime Lucashenko amply shows her skill as a storyteller. The tale is riveting. And her dialogue is blisteringly good. She renders accents, both Indigenous and English, like no one else. She also delves deep into the social and cultural ways of the Indigenous mobs and how they were forced to cope with the entitled English colonisers. It's very enlightening indeed.
- (In the Author’s Notes at the end of the book she writes this: Goorie villages were repeatedly invaded during the Frontier Wars. The campaign of sustained attacks on Aboriginal civilians across the Australian continent from the late 1700s can only be viewed as constituting either war crimes, or as terrorism. The total numbers slaughtered are staggering. According to historian Professor Robert Orsted-Jensen, the death toll on the Queensland frontier alone rivals the total number of Australian soldiers killed in World War One).
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