A Piece of Red Cloth

A powerful, unique novel based on the oral history of the Yolngu people from north-east Arnhem Land that tells the story of a grandmother who stops at nothing to protect her granddaughter.

It's early in the wet season. A flock of crested terns sweeps into the bay and dives towards Batjani. The birds are saying the foreigners are coming, as they do every year, but why are they so full of menace?

Batjani's beloved granddaughter Garritji is on the cusp of womanhood, about to go through the rituals preparing her for marriage. Batjani uses all means at her disposal to protect her granddaughter from the visiting Macassan trepang fishers, but she is betrayed. Can Garritji be saved?

This powerful and unique novel is based on oral history and told through Yolngu eyes, with ancestors as the Yolngu remember them: proud, strong, resilient people in control of their world and interacting with foreigners on their own terms.

'We've been waiting a long time for a book like this that tells a big Yolngu story, rich with Yolngu knowledge and world view, and with the vivid language and narrative excitement to appeal to everyone...[A] breathtaking re-imagining of history and place.' - Nicholas Jose, editor of the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature

'Offers readers a glimpse into pre-colonial Australia and a world still powerfully alive in the Yolngu imagination' - Kim Mahood, award-winning writer

'With all the color and sensuality of slow-paced life on Country, the novel suddenly moves towards its action-filled resolution.' - Stephen Muecke, Nulungu Research Institute, Broome