The White Girl: A Novel
Written by Tony Birch
Narrated by Shareena Clanton
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“A profound allegory of good and evil, and a deep exploration of human interaction, black and white, alternately beautiful and tender, cruel and unsettling.”—Guardian
Australia’s leading indigenous storyteller makes his American debut with this immersive and deeply resonant novel, set in the 1960s, that explores the lengths we’ll go to save the people we love—an unforgettable story of one native Australian family and the racist government that threatens to separate them.
Odette Brown has lived her entire life on the fringes of Deane, a small Australian country town. Dark secrets simmer beneath the surface of Deane—secrets that could explain why Odette's daughter, Lila, left her one-year-old daughter, Sissy, and never came back, or why Sissy has white skin when her family is Aboriginal.
For thirteen years, Odette has quietly raised her granddaughter without drawing notice from welfare authorities who remove fair-skinned Aboriginal children from their families. But the arrival of a new policeman with cruel eyes and a rigid by-the-book attitude throws the Brown women's lives off-kilter. It will take all of Odette's courage and cunning to save Sissy from the authorities, and maybe even lead her to find her daughter.
Bolstered by love, smarts, and the strength of their ancestors, Odette and Sissy are an indomitable force, handling threats to their family and their own identities with grace and ingenuity, while never losing hope for themselves and their future.
In The White Girl, Miles Franklin Award-nominated author Tony Birch illuminates Australia’s devastating post-colonial past—notably the government’s racist policy of separating Indigenous children from their families, known today as the Stolen Generations—and introduces a tight-knit group of charming, inspiring characters who remind us of our shared humanity, and that kindness, hope, and love have no limits.
Editor's Note
Important piece of history…
Tony Birch makes his U.S. debut with a harrowing story about the brutality and discrimination suffered by Indigineous people in Australia as recently as the 1960s. As you read the struggles of Odette, an Aboriginal woman determined to prevent her white-passing granddaughter from being removed from her care (which was often done in those days), you’ll learn an important, deeply buried piece of history as well as feel the pull of this heartbreaking story.
Tony Birch
Tony Birch is the author of three novels: the bestselling The White Girl, winner of the 2020 NSW Premier’s Award for Indigenous Writing, and shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin literary prize; Ghost River, winner of the 2016 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award in 2012. He is also the author of Shadowboxing and four short story collections, Dark As Last Night, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People; and the poetry collections, Broken Teeth and Whisper Songs. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award for his contribution to Australian literature. Tony Birch is also an activist, historian and essayist. His website is: tony-birch.com
Related to The White Girl
Related audiobooks
The Great Mrs. Elias: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yonder: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Unlasting Home: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Suspicious Holdout: Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Carolina Built Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mercy Street: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Good Man Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scatterlings: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Karankawas: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Treasures of the Sky: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Harry Sylvester Bird Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After the Hurricane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sister Mother Warrior: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Two Lives of Sara Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Ballad of Love and Glory: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Family Chao Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island Queen: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Righteous Troublemakers: Untold Stories of the Social Justice Movement in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things Past Telling: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Africaville: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Removed: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Twelve-Mile Straight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hope and Glory: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stealing: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Monticello: Fiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunger Games Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: A Hunger Games Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious People: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Five Years: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The White Girl
30 ratings0 reviews