JUST PUBLISHED!

Wild Mind Publishing

Beneath the Wild Fig Tree

But who should be forgiven and who should forgive?

Nicky feels her life is falling apart when she receives an unwanted gift from her estranged mother and is gripped by memories of the months her family spent living on a remote island raucous with birdlife in 1984.

There’d been a reckoning. Life would never the same and while for Nicky a falling gum leaf had marked the beginning of her family’s unravelling, a phone call in 2000 laid down a personal challenge.

Beneath the Wild Fig Tree interweaves these two transformative years into a kaleidoscopic coming of age story that unfolds across Sydney, Adelaide and Tasmania. It is a novel that will particularly appeal to readers who enjoy strong characters, the tang of the ocean, the luminosity of nature and a vivid sense of place.

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Betrayal.

Reviews

'Exquisite Descriptions'

‘I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It’s full of exquisite descriptions of the sea, the sky, nature in general and bird behaviour in particular. The complications of a family’s life are interwoven with lyrical writing about nature and astute commentary on the Aboriginal viewpoint, the colonial desecration of their traditions, archaeologists’ destruction of their heritage and education’s erasure of their existence in telling the story of Australia. All this, yet telling a fascinating story of interconnected lives that never feels forced. Book Guide, Good Reads.

'Engrossing Read'

'An engrossing and vivid novel brimming with compassion for nature.'

Anna Iltnere, The Sea Library Magazine.

'The vivid descriptions of nature are terrific.'

Peter (Good Reads reviewer)

'Beautiful'

'Beautiful, hypnotic character and place story telling.'

Karyn (Good Reads reviewer)

'In my 20+ years as an editor, I’ve rarely seen such talent from a new writer.’

Jess (Good Reads reviewer and proofreader)

Fiona Preston

Fiona Preston was born in South Africa but has spent most of her life in Australia, specifically in lutruwita / Tasmania, where this novel was substantially written. She has also lived in the Kimberley, Western Australia and in New South Wales.