Author Description

This beautifully written and gripping debut is as moving as it is frightening, and as heartbreaking as it is tender. Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Commonwealth Writer's Prize and Prime Minister's literary award 2013. Tom and Jordy have been living with their gran since the day their mother, Loretta, left them on her doorstep and disappeared. Now Loretta's returned, and she wants her boys back. Tom and Jordy hit the road with Loretta in her beat-up car. The family of three journeys across the country, squabbling, bonding, searching and reconnecting. But Loretta isn't mother material. She's broke, unreliable, lost. And there's something else that's not quite right with this reunion. They reach the west coast and take refuge in a beachside caravan park. Their neighbour, a surly old man, warns the kids to stay away. But when Loretta disappears again the boys have no choice but to ask the old man for help, and now they face new threats and new fears. Romy Ash is the author of Floundering, her first novel, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, Commonwealth Writer's Prize and Prime Minister's literary award, amongst others. She was awarded the SMH Best Young Australian Novelists of the year award for 2013. She lives in Melbourne. textpublishing.com.au 'Suspenseful, tough and moving, this book had to be written. I can see see the film already.' Robert Drewe '...a powerhouse of a book, one of those novels that is so evocative of the Australian landscape that it seems almost to be part of it. A pitch-perfect capturing of characters who are instantly recognisable, effortlessly rendered and irresistibly pathos-inducing.' Australian Womens Weekly 'Utterly convincing. These boys are so real, you will lie awake worrying about them, hoping that somehow they will find their way through it.' Cate Kennedy '[Romy Ash's debut] is fu