Nic’s father has got a job in a band on a cruise ship, so she is sent to live with Grandpa. Nic’s not impressed: there’s no access to the internet, reception for her mobile phone is limited and there’s not even a working TV! Her grandfather only uses a couple of rooms in the huge old homestead and Nic is told to stay out of the rest. Yaratgil is a rural property that was wealthy in its heyday but now Grandpa struggles to scratch a living out of it. Nic is bored out of her brain. But then she discovers how to slip through time – into events that happened in the property’s past – and she begins to uncover her family secrets. She learns that the history books only tell part of the story. Yaratgil used to be Djargurd wurrung land.

In this fascinating time-slip adventure, Wilkinson explores aspects of Australia’s past that for too long have been ignored. Many Australians still don’t know much about the history that took place before Europeans arrived. Nor do they know the full story of what happened in those early days of encounter between Indigenous and Colonial people. As Winston Churchill said, ‘History is written by the victors’. Although aspects of Wilkinson’s story could be confronting and disconcerting, she gives us characters we care about. This is an honest and intriguing tale that keeps the reader fully engaged throughout.

Reviewed by Wendy Noble
Age Guide 12+