Two sisters, Noonah and Trilby, are young, beautiful… and part Aboriginal. The grim alternatives before them are those that white Australians do not even know about, let alone have to face. The brawling squalor of the camp, the neat ghetto of the reserve, a bottle of ‘conto’ and quick love in the sandhills. Noonah is happy to flop back, Trilby has the fire to drive her on. But to what?

Nene Gare is as honest as she is sympathetic, and around the two girls she gives a wonderful picture of the warm, crude but sensitive Comeaway family and their friends and ‘lations.

Nene Gare has lived most of her life in Western Australia and has travelled extensively, obtaining first-hand knowledge of the subject matter she deals with so skilfully in this novel.

A movie was released in 1987, changing the setting from 1960s WA to 1980s Queensland, adapted by Bruce Beresford. The movie was a modest success and won the 1987 AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.