by Tim Winton
First published 2002
Luther Fox works the waters as a shamateur, poaching fish to survive after a car accident killed his entire family. He once grew melons and played guitar in their band, but music carries too much pain now. One morning Georgie Jutland spots him fishing illegally. She lives with Jim Buckridge, the region's wealthiest fisherman who despises poachers like Fox above anyone else. Georgie never quite fit into Jim's waterfront mansion or the tight community with its buried violence. When she crosses paths with Fox, her fragile grip on respectable life breaks apart. Neither would name what pulls them together as love, yet they cannot resist each other despite the deadly risk. In White Point's unforgiving landscape, their connection threatens everything. Fox explains dirt music to Georgie as songs you can play on any porch without power. Even in wilderness, he finds no escape from sound or memory. This story follows two people crushed by loss as they discover whether breaking free from the past is possible.
Genres: fiction, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, second-chance
Setting: White Point, Australia
Period: contemporary
411 pages · Hardcover · Scribner