?A profound allegory of good and evil and a deep exploration of human interaction black and
white alternately beautiful and tender cruel and unsettling.??Guardian Australia's leading
indigenous storyteller makes his American debut with this immersive and deeply resonant novel
set in the 1960s that explores the lengths we'll go to save the people we love?an
unforgettable story of one native Australian family and the racist government that threatens to
separate them. Odette Brown has lived her entire life on the fringes of Deane a small
Australian country town. Dark secrets simmer beneath the surface of Deane?secrets that could
explain why Odette's daughter Lila left her one-year-old daughter Sissy and never came back
or why Sissy has white skin when her family is Aboriginal. For thirteen years Odette has
quietly raised her granddaughter without drawing notice from welfare authorities who remove
fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. But the arrival of a new policeman with
cruel eyes and a rigid by-the-book attitude throws the Brown women's lives off-kilter. It will
take all of Odette's courage and cunning to save Sissy from the authorities and maybe even
lead her to find her daughter. Bolstered by love smarts and the strength of their ancestors
Odette and Sissy are an indomitable force handling threats to their family and their own
identities with grace and ingenuity while never losing hope for themselves and their future.
In The White Girl Miles Franklin Award-nominated author Tony Birch illuminates Australia's
devastating post-colonial past?notably the government's racist policy of separating Indigenous
children from their families known today as the Stolen Generations?and introduces a tight-knit
group of charming inspiring characters who remind us of our shared humanity and that kindness
hope and love have no limits.
