First published 1995
Daisy Bates makes a radical choice in 1913. She leaves behind the familiar world and walks into the vast deserts of South Australia. At fifty-four, she commits herself to a life most would find impossible. The red earth and endless sky become her home. Aboriginal communities become her neighbors and teachers. She learns their languages, customs, and stories while documenting their lives during a time of devastating change. The desert strips away everything she once knew about herself. Survival demands new skills, new understanding, new ways of seeing the world around her. Each day brings challenges that test her resolve and reshape her identity. The isolation forces her to confront who she really is beneath the layers of her former life. This true story reveals how one woman's extraordinary decision transformed both her own existence and our understanding of a disappearing world.
Genres: historical-fiction, australia, 20th-century, adventure, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, self-discovery
Setting: Australia, South Australia
Period: 1913
320 pages · Paperback · Minerva