AustLit

'In a world where children are taken from their parents, and people are separated from their homeland, to survive is a miracle; to belong is a luxury...Cal Brodie, ex-pro-surfer, has always existed in a man's world. As a teenager in the 1980s she was the next-best-thing in women's surfing...It was a time when female surfers were a novelty - worse: a joke. In the surf, men with names like 'Worm', 'Drongo', and 'Two Dogs' dropped in, snaked and jeered. Fifteen years later, Cal has long given up surfing; and shapes surfboards for a living - a solitary, anonymous art. Meanwhile, twenty-one-year-old Hassan, on the run from immigration, finds himself in Tungalla Bay, where his life intersects with Cal, and the beautiful but troubled Nina - Cal's surfing protegee... A native title claim threatens Cal's hold on her history, Hassan's place in the world; and Nina's identity. Cal just wants to be left alone. Nina wants to surf. Hassan wants to find a home, and to play soccer. But life is rarely so simple...This is a story about all the usual things: belonging, identity, friendship, love, redemption. And about growing up in a small town that is getting bigger; and a large world that is getting smaller...Oh, and the search for the perfect wave.' (Author's abstract from website, http://www.emmahardman.com/index.htm)