Author(s): Christie Nieman

Young Adult

In north-eastern Victoria, bush-covered hills erupt into flames. A Bush Stone-curlew escapes the fire but a woman studying the endangered bird does not. When Robin's parents split up after the fire, her mother drags her from the country to a new life in the ugly city. Robin misses her dog, her best-friend, the cows, trees, creek, bushland and, especially, the birds. On the first day at her new school, Robin meets Delia. She's freaky and definitely not good for Robin's image. Delia's older brother Seth has given up school to prowl the city streets. He is angry at everything, but mostly at the fire that killed his mother. When a Bush Stone-curlew turns up in the city parklands, the three teenagers become inextricably linked. Soon their lives are circling tighter and tighter around each other, and the curlew.