The Apostle Bird — Garry Disher

`a masterful achievement? Magpies

We have come here to scratch for gold.
Once we had a house, a business and a Packard sedan,
but they are gone now, seized by the bank.

The year is 1934, the time of the Great Depression. The place is a settlement of miners' dugouts far from the nearest town. Fifteen-year-old Neil and his parents have come from Adelaide, hoping to strike it lucky, but the gold is elusive. Then the American Ivan and his daughter Kitty arrive, mysterious and aloof. Soon rumours spread: Ivan killed a man; Kitty helped him rob banks. Neil is drawn to them despite the rumours. But Kitty saw him shoot the apostle bird. How can he convince her that it was an accident?

Tensions come to a head when a digger is found dead, his gold missing, and angry miners form a mob to hunt the Americans down. Neil knows the nearby creeks and scrubland, and he can lead Ivan and Kitty to safety ? if they let him.

The Apostle Bird is an evocatively written and compelling study of prejudice, honour and courage from Garry Disher, bestselling author of The Divine Wind and The Bamboo Flute.