The Desert People

Northern Territory, 1957. In the vast Simpson Desert, where red sand dunes roll to every horizon, Olivia Riley has spent a lifetime holding her family together. Widowed young, she has weathered isolation, heartbreak and loss to build a life in one of the harshest places on earth.

Then a violent desert storm delivers a stranger to her door.

Found half buried in the sand after a devastating plane crash, a young woman arrives carrying dangerous secrets – and no clear explanation for why she was flying across this remote land.

Katharine slowly recovers under Olivia’s care, but her presence unsettles the careful balance in the Riley household and the bonds they share with their only neighbours, the Whitmans.

As loyalties shift and unexpected love blossoms, Olivia discovers that even in the desert, the greatest challenges can come from within . . .

'Bears all the hallmarks of a modern Australian classic.' Christine Wells, author of Sisters of the Resistance, on The Limestone Road

'Unputdownable . . . epitomising the great Australian novel.' Anita Heiss, author of The Paradise Pact, on The Last Station