That Deadman Dance

Bobby Wabalanginy grows up near present-day Albany, Western Australia, in the early years of the nineteenth century: a clever, eager young Noongar man who takes to the newcomers' language and ways. He hunts whales with them, helps them farm and explore, is welcomed into the house of the merchant Geordie Chaine and falls for his daughter Christine. For a while this is a friendly frontier. But stock starts to disappear and crops are destroyed, and as the settlers tighten their rules, Bobby's elders decide to answer in kind. Friend to everyone, he is forced to choose between his ancestors and the new world. The book's English is itself shaped by the meeting with Noongar.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Australia, early 19th century

First published

2010

Author's age

53 when first published

ISBN

9781405040433 (Picador, Australia)

9780330404235 (Picador Australia, Australia)

9781608197057 (Bloomsbury, United States)

9781408829271 (Bloomsbury Publishing, United Kingdom)

9781608197798 (Bloomsbury USA, United States)

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