Stark, brutal beginning intertwined with moments of magic, robustness and determination.

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All Our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton        

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




The composition of the chapters read like a songline across the Northern Territory  landscape, pulling in the sights, sounds and aspects of country. The bull ant climbing across the gravestone, the endless sky, the black rock frog roc, all forming a rich background that waits—for stories to unfold as time hangs suspended.

A curse and family secrets. The young grave digger girl Molly Hook, the dying mother, the despicable men of the family—all is lost and harsh.

1942, the bombing of Darwin and falling into another scene complete with a Japanese  pilot and the old fire-forged shortsword his father had handed him.

Throughout all the night sky is watching. 

Absorbingly weird, poetically charged, with snatches of magic realism etched across the pages that carry one on a wild journey at the top end Australia.

A read that keeps you on your toes, grasping for the next piece of the puzzle.


A Harper ARC via NetGalley 

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