Fourteen year old Veronica Mitchell, called Nic, is
dumped at her grandad’s remote homestead at Yaratgil, her mother’s childhood
home.
Melbourne and internet access are now a memory, and it appears so will
be, her travelling musician father that left her there. With no TV or phone
connection, and miles away from the nearest town, Nic is isolated and alone in
every sense.
Barely a word passes between Nic and grumpy grandad
who forbids her to roam the house.
With this silent rhythm of life, and discovering
that her mother is buried in the paddock behind the house, Nic struggles to
find a way to go about her life.
When she discovers the Mitchells are
in Yaratgil for reasons that no one will discuss with her, she feels totally
lost.
She searches the empty and forbidden areas of the
homestead on a day when grandad is away, for information about her mother who
died when she was born. In a room full of plants growing up through the floor,
she discovers some stones that open a portal into the past. Her unknown
inherited ability to time travel exposes many family secrets that will set her
world spinning. She also uncovers the shocking happenings connected to the Aboriginal
people of the land and the horrific crimes perpetrated by the European settlers
against them.
Nic’s time travel opens up portals of information
about her lineage and immediate family. This leads to a metamorphosis. She
comes to Yaratgil a lonely and frightened, seemingly abandoned child with too many
secrets withheld from her, and emerges a person whose future and inheritance
promises knowledge and the power to shift perception concerning the true
historical facts of their land.
Carole Wilkinson, author of the fantastic and
mystical Dragonkeeper series, has
created a novel full of tension and heart wrenching revelations. Based on true
events from the dark history of Australia’s settlement, the story is beautifully
presented in varying time stages that float through the storyline. The novel
addresses the ignored parts of our Australian history in a subtle and
informative way.
Wilkinson
has a gift for historical narrative and her ability to weave the past with the
present results in an astonishing book that deserves attention. With a strong
and resilient female protagonist and other secondary female characters that
enter and exit to strengthen the scenes through their dialogue, this excellent
novel will be read in one sitting.
Title:
Inheritance
Author:
Carole Wilkinson
Publisher:
Walker Books, $17.99
Publication
Date: September 2018
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781760650360
For
ages: 10+
Type: Middle Grade Fiction
