DEBUT

FANNY BLAKE

(One £16.99) The desire for revenge drives this accomplished novel, set in the wilderness of 1880s central Queensland during an appalling period in Australia’s history.

Tommy McBride, 14, and his 16-year -old brother Billy are hell-bent on justice after their parents are murdered, apparently by an Aboriginal stockman who once crossed their father.

The manhunt is led by John Sullivan, a ruthless neighbouring farmer , and the Queensland Native P olice, who are also responsible for the genocide of A ustralia’s indigenous people.

vicious reprisals occur as a result of Billy’s lies, and the brothers’ relationship is put under increasing pressure. In muscular prose this chilling coming - of-age story pinpoints the relationship between an unforgiving landscape and the characters who are shaped and brutalised by it.