The boys from St Francis by Ashley Mallett

The boys from St Francis by Ashley MallettThis remarkable true story pays tribute to a band of Aboriginal boys who grew up together in one group home many succeeding spectacularly in later life. In 1945, Anglican priest Father Percy Smith brought six boys from their Northern Territory home to an Adelaide beach suburb. There, they became the first boys of St Francis, a place that would house 50 such boys over 11 years. Some were sent, with the blessing of their mothers, to gain an education.

and professor

The Shepherd's Hut is a searing look at what it takes to keep love and hope alive in a parched and brutal world

1364When married off aged 12 to an elderly farmer

They have high hopes for their new land

The stories of those who lived and died on the line—heroic

Carpentaria was the 2007 winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award

Also thoughtful

sometimes years

showing how culture is passed on from generation to generation

and it seems that some of Zadie's stories come true

Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie Dagger

An Australian classic by the author and illustrator of Hunwick's Egg