Heart of the Grass Tree

Shortlisted for the Indies and MUD literary fiction prizes. Heart of the Grass Tree is an exquisite, searing and hope-filled debut about mothers, daughters, family stories, about country and its living history.

When Pearl’s grandmother Nell dies unexpectedly, Pearl and her family - mother Diana, sister Lucy - return to Kangaroo Island to mourn and farewell her. Each of them knew Nell intimately but differently, and each woman must reckon with Nell’s passing in her own way. But Nell had secrets, too.

As Pearl, Diana and Lucy interrogate their feelings about the island, Pearl starts to pull together the scraps Nell left behind and unearths a connection to the island’s early history, of the early European sealers and their first contact with the Ngarrindjeri people.

Pearl’s deepening connection to their history, the island’s history, grounds her, and will ultimately bring the women back to each other.