‘You walk and the harvest moon casts the clearest of shadows. You are nervous. With a moon like that, it is not a night for escaping. It is a night made better for hunting runaway girls.’

Himalayas: Unknown Year

‘Ten thousand strands of trouble,’ is what Bird’s father says, watching as Bird’s sister braids her hair. On the eve of her fourteenth year, that trouble finds Bird. Fleeing her home to escape an arranged marriage, she attempts to vanish into a crowd of pilgrims – not knowing that violence is circling, and that it already has its eyes on her. In search of her own life and her own truth, she could never imagine how long and how far it would take her.

Darwin: Present Day

Waking in a hospital bed, Bird tries to remember what brought her here. A man whose gaze she knew to fear, a stolen car, a plastic gun, and a real bullet in her shoulder. Kindness is being offered here, so why is her instinct always to run? Strand by strand, she begins to remember . . .

A masterful and profoundly moving novel about a girl determined to live on her own terms, no matter the cost. Bird is an unforgettable story of hope, resilience, the power of connection and the most elemental bonds.

Courtney Collins is an author, screenwriter and producer. Her first novel, The Burial (Allen & Unwin 2012), was published in ten countries and shortlisted for numerous prizes, including the Nita B Kibble Literary Award, NSW Premier’s Literary Award for New Writing and the Stella Prize. The Burial is currently being adapted as a feature film. Courtney holds a Master of Creative Writing and is completing a PhD titled ‘Working Against Whiteness in Creative Literary Production’. She lived in the remote Northern Territory for eight years before relocating to the Mid North Coast. In 2019, she travelled to the Himalayan region of Himachal Pradesh, India, to research BIRD. She presents and co-produces @areyoustillworkingpodcast