'Brett Sheldon, a middle-aged international art dealer and survivor of a devastating plane crash, and Nanda, a beautiful sixteen-year-old part-time street kid and daughter of a prostitute, meet as fellow passengers on a CityCat ferry on the Brisbane River. Nanda is offended by the obvious interest Brett shows in her.
'From this first abrasive encounter an unlikely and intricate relationship slowly forms, based on their common need for shelter from their present lifestyles. The plane crash Brett survived killed his wife and teenage daughter, and besides enduring his grief, Brett guards a terrible secret connected to a great work of art.
'Despite their contrasting backgrounds and experience of life, Nanda moves into Brett's apartment. Teenage drug culture and social alienation play their parts as the narrative leads to a violent and horrifying finale.' (Publisher's blurb)
Epigraph: 'But your interest in me - you see well enough where that lands us'...'That's what I mean by your taking me as I am. It is, you know, for a girl - extraordinary.' 'Oh, I know what it is!' Henry James, The Awkward Age
As by the selfe-fix'd Pole wee never doe Direct our course...John Donne, The Annunciation and Passion
