Cirrus@Austlit

'After their family encounters terrible hardship in rural China, siblings Fu and Pei must draw on all their resilience and courage as they embark on a dangerous journey towards a better life. A compelling and poignant children's novel from the CBCA award-winning author of Tiger Daughter.

'What if you were forced to set sail for a country that didn't want you, to meet a father you couldn't remember?

'Thirteen-year-old Fu, his younger sister, Pei, and their mother live in a small rural community in Southern China that is already enduring famine conditions when it is collectivised as part of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward campaign that ultimately led to economic disaster, widespread famine and millions of deaths.

'After tragedy strikes, and threatened with separation, Fu and Pei set out on a perilous journey across countries and oceans to find their father, who left for Australia almost a decade earlier. With nothing to guide them but a photograph and some letters in a language they cannot read, they must draw on all their courage and tenacity just to survive - and perhaps forge a better life for themselves.

'An unforgettable story of family, resilience and the complex Asian-Australian experience from the esteemed author of Tiger Daughter, winner of the CBCA Book of the year for Older Readers.' (Publication summary)

'Two of Australia’s most acclaimed and high profile writers co-author a sensitive and ultimately hopeful story about our growing climate crisis.

'With sea-levels rising, and the land deforested, over-mined and affected by bushfires and drought – Tasmania is increasingly marooned, its people abandoned. Nyx’s father wants them to leave while they still can but, for Nyx, West Hobart is all she’s ever known, and where her mother is buried. She seeks solace in the single surviving tree near her home - an 80-foot pine that has defied all odds. Bea, too, finds solace in the tree, and facing a move to the mainland herself, leaves a despairing note, wedged into a hole in its trunk. Nyx finds the note, and writes back. But Nyx and Bea don’t realise how special their tree truly is …' (Publication summary)

'Wen Zhou is a first-generation daughter of Chinese migrant parents. She has high expectations from her parents to succeed in school, especially her father whose strict rules leave her feeling trapped. She dreams of creating a future for herself more satisfying than the one her parents expect her to lead. 

'Then she befriends a boy named Henry who is also a first generation immigrant. He is the smartest boy at school despite struggling with his English and understands her in a way nobody has lately. Both of them dream of escaping and together they come up with a plan to take an entrance exam for a selective school far from home. 

'But when tragedy strikes, it will take all of Wen’s resilience and tiger strength to get herself and Henry through the storm that follows. 

Source: Publishers blurb.