‘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.
Author
Garry Disher was born in 1949 and grew up on his parents' farm in South Australia. He gained post graduate degrees from Adelaide and Melbourne Universities. In 1978 he was awarded a creative writing fellowship to Stanford University, where he wrote his first short story collection. He travelled widely overseas, before returning to Australia, where he taught creative writing, finally becoming a full time writer in 1988. He has written more than 40 titles, including general and crime fiction, children's books, textbooks, and books about the craft of writing.
