Melissa Lucashenko

Mullumbimby Melissa Lucashenko

Marc Notes: Received a Bookseller + Publisher 4 star review.; When Jo Breen uses her divorce settlement to buy a neglected property in the Byron Bay hinterland, she is hoping for a tree change, and a blossoming connection to the land of her Aboriginal ancestors. What she discovers instead is sharp dissent from her teenage daughter, trouble brewing from unimpressed white neighbours and a looming Native Title war between the local Bundjalung families. When Jo unexpectedly finds love on one side of the Native Title divide she quickly learns that living on country is only part of the recipe for the Good Life. Biographical Note: Melissa Lucashenko is a Murri woman of European and Ygambeh/Bundjalung descent. Her first book "Steam Pigs" won the l998 Dobbie Award for Women s Fiction and was shortlisted for the l999 New South Wales Premier s fiction award and the Commonwealth Writer s Prize, First Published Book. Her next book "Killing Darcy "won the Children s Book Council Award and the Royal Blind Society s Talking Book Award for young readers. "Hard Yards "was published in 1999 and shortlisted in the 2002 Courier-Mail Best Book Award. In 2002 her fourth book "Too Flash" was launched by Jukurrpa Books. Excerpts from "Steam Pigs" and" Hard Yards "were chosen for "Fresh Cuttings," UQP s first anthology of Black Australian Writing, which will be released in October 2003."