The battle against a new prison, to be built on sacred ground where Salter ancestors are laid to rest, ramps up with a land rights campaign. But forget about opening old family wounds, I’d say a lump the size of police headquarters sits in the pit of their stomachs, continually irritating their every move. At the party is another brother, gay Black Superman, maybe long-dead sister Donna, plus assorted Aunts (called Mary) Uncles and children who gust through the pages like eucalyptus smoke. Kerry’s tarot card-reading mother Pretty Mary celebrates a birthday and those volatile chapters are my favourites. Then there’s romance in the form of her hot eye-candy boyfriend Steve Abarco who’s the flagship for level-headed, rock-solid men. She does a B&E, part retribution, part spirit world, and the universe turns a notch. Bad things are happening, but as long as Kerry’s Harley Softail is safe.Įarly on, Bundjalung woman Kerry has returned to her home town of Durrongo, and grieves the loss of her girlfriend Allie, her Pop and her stolen blue backpack. I’m sure I’d have put Ken in hospital at about Chapter Three. It took me a month to read this book in fits and starts but I’m glad I did.Ībrasive characters are well portrayed which makes them doubly annoying, they need to be accepted warts and all, like ‘mouthy’ Kerry Salter and her unlikable brother Ken who argue every minute of the day. Loaded with the troubles of the Salter family, cruel sarcasm, too much drink, too many smokes, I was getting worn down right along with them. I took long walks due to the serious and unrelenting nature of the content.

The incessant fights in the Salter family are too real, their plight is real, every word is real and that’s what damaged me the most.

Melissa lucashenko too much lip