"Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
Nine-year-old Adrian watches his world closely, but there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighborhood children might set out to buy ice cream one summer’s day and never be seen again. . . . In a suburb that is no longer safe and innocent, in a broken family of self-absorbed souls, Sonya Hartnett sets the story of a lone little boy -- unwanted, unloved, and intensely curious -- a story as achingly beautiful as it is shattering....

This enchanting fable of a young woman and a wild boy is a haunting
meditation on the nature of love and loss.

Maddy, an old lady now, arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic and mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell painfully in love with a free spirit named Feather, who put aside his wild ways to live with her in a little cottage, conceived with her a child never to be born, and disappeared — leaving an inconsolable Maddy to follow after him on a fantastical journey across the sea. In a beautifully crafted tale, currently shortlisted for a 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize, Sonya Hartnett masterfully explores the mysteries of the heart, the sustaining power of memory, and the ultimate consolation that comes to souls who live fully and fearlessly....

Sonya Hartnett’s haunting, mythical novel - now in paperback

Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a bleak landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin - "born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings" - begins to escape underground, tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes, Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving his family further and further behind.

With exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism, Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s an unsentimental portrait of a loving family faced with poverty and heartbreak, entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin, disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far, yet remains hauntingly near.

"Will be treasured by teens. . . . A beautiful and complex coming-of-age story that will burrow into young people’s deepest hopes and fears, shining light on the darkest rooms." - BOOKLIST (starred review)...

On a late autumn day in 1977 a fishing boat dredges the carcass of a huge sea monster from the black waters of the Pacific. In a peaceful suburban neighbourhood, three children go to the shop to buy ice cream and never return home. These events trouble Adrian, but then most things do. He's afraid of quicksand, tidal waves, self-combustion, shopping centres...A timid boy, who says little and does what he's told, he finds there is much in his world that he cannot understand. He lives with his gran and his Uncle Rory; his only friend is Clinton Tull, his one talent is for drawing. The routine of his life rarely changes...until the day the new children arrive in the house across the street. Then everything changes. Sonya Hartnett's dark, poignant and suspenseful novel perfectly captures the tenderness, cruelty and skewed perceptions of childhood....