In the near future Australia is about to experience colonization once more. What has been learned from the past? A daring debut novel from the winner of the 2016 black&write! writing fellowship.
Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2018
Shortlisted for the ABIA Matt Richell Award for New Writers 2018
Winner of the Norma K Hemming Award 2018
Winner of the Tin Duck Award
Highly Commended in the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2017
Longlisted for the Indie Book Award for Debut Fiction 2018
Shortlisted for the Aurealis Award 2017
Nominated for Ditmar Award 2018
Runner Up for the MUD Literary Prize
Publishers Weekly Big Indie Books of Fall 2018
“A gut punch of a book in the style of Le Guin, Atwood, and Butler. Claire G. Coleman’s debut novel blazes with truth.”
— Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble
Jacky was running. There was no thought in his head, only an intense drive to run. There was no sense he was getting anywhere, no plan, no destination, no future. All he had was a sense of what was behind, what he was running from.
The Natives of the Colony are restless. The Settlers are eager to bring peace to their new home, and they have a plan for how to achieve it. They will tear Native families apart and provide re-education to those who do not understand why they should submit to their betters.
Peace and prosperity are worth any price, but who will pay it? This rich land, Australia, will provide for all if only the Natives can learn their place.
Jacky has escaped the Home where the Settlers sent him, but where will he go? The Head of the Department for the Protection of Natives, known to Settlers and Natives alike as the Devil, is chasing Jacky. And when the Devil catches him, Sister Bagra, who knows her duty to the ungodly, will be waiting for Jacky back at Home.
An incendiary, timely, and fantastical debut from an essential Australian Aboriginal writer, Claire G. Coleman.
Do you recognize this story? Look again.
This is not Australia as we know it. This is not the Australia of our history books. This Terra Nullius — shortlisted for the 2018 Stella Prize and Highly Commended for the Victorian Premiers Literary Awards — is something new, but all too familiar.
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