You Missed My Heart
Tony Birch
Feb 2027 · Hachette Australia
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infoThis book will become available on February 23, 2027. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this audiobook
An emotionally powerful novel of family and loss from award-winning and internationally acclaimed author Tony Birch - one of Australia's best storytellers.
'We're supposed to be long gone from this place. Either in the ground or on the move. Early days, they murdered us. Now, when they spot us around here, the farm boys with their cowboy hats and shiny leather boots that haven't seen a hard day's work, it's like they come across a ghost. That's all we are to them. Ghosts.'
Growing up in a tough town, Lee Morgan is his brother's protector. Billy is three years younger and rarely speaks to anyone he doesn't know. He is always looking for adventures and slipping away from under Lee's watch. Billy is too young to know the dangers - but Lee, at thirteen, has heard his mother's stories of missing children never found and Welfare who take kids away.
Lee listens but he's also learned that he doesn't need to do something wrong to be in trouble. He focuses on playing basketball like Michael Jordan ... and looking after Billy. Until one night, he messes up and the spotlight is on them both.
With Welfare looking for him, Lee just wants to go home - but what a black teenager wants is never going to matter. Then Billy disappears. And Lee can only hope that someone, somewhere, will make it right ...
Tender and unforgettable, You Missed My Heart is a poignant story of brotherhood, violence and the racism disguised as care that shatters Aboriginal families to this day.
'We're supposed to be long gone from this place. Either in the ground or on the move. Early days, they murdered us. Now, when they spot us around here, the farm boys with their cowboy hats and shiny leather boots that haven't seen a hard day's work, it's like they come across a ghost. That's all we are to them. Ghosts.'
Growing up in a tough town, Lee Morgan is his brother's protector. Billy is three years younger and rarely speaks to anyone he doesn't know. He is always looking for adventures and slipping away from under Lee's watch. Billy is too young to know the dangers - but Lee, at thirteen, has heard his mother's stories of missing children never found and Welfare who take kids away.
Lee listens but he's also learned that he doesn't need to do something wrong to be in trouble. He focuses on playing basketball like Michael Jordan ... and looking after Billy. Until one night, he messes up and the spotlight is on them both.
With Welfare looking for him, Lee just wants to go home - but what a black teenager wants is never going to matter. Then Billy disappears. And Lee can only hope that someone, somewhere, will make it right ...
Tender and unforgettable, You Missed My Heart is a poignant story of brotherhood, violence and the racism disguised as care that shatters Aboriginal families to this day.
An emotionally powerful novel of family and loss from award-winning and internationally acclaimed author Tony Birch - one of Australia's best storytellers.
'We're supposed to be long gone from this place. Either in the ground or on the move. Early days, they murdered us. Now, when they spot us a...
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About the author
Tony Birch is the award-winning author of four novels: Women & Children, which won the 2024 The Age Fiction Book of the Year; The White Girl, which won the 2020 NSW Premier's Award for Indigenous Writing, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award; Ghost River, which won the 2016 Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award in 2012. He was awarded the 2017 Patrick White Award for his powerful, engaging and moving stories. He has also published two poetry books and four short story collections and is currently the Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of Melbourne.
Tony Birch is the award-winning author of four novels: Women & Children, which won the 2024 The Age Fiction Book of the Year; The White Girl, which won the 2020 NSW Premier's Award for Indigenous Writing, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Miles Franklin Literary Award; Ghost River, which won the 2...
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