It is Darwin 1942, and Japanese bombs fall on the city. Molly Hook is a motherlesss daughter of a grave digger, and both her grand fathers had been gold prospectors. Her maternal grand father felt there was a curse on the family as he took gold from Longcoat Bob and his mob. After her father is killed by a Japanese bomb, she leaves Darwin to look for Longboat Bob to lift the curse. She is accompanied by actress Greta Maze, and they come across Yukio, a Japanese fighter pilot who protects them in their quest to find Longcoat Bob. The descriptions of Darwin, the bombing and the outback are wonderful, but I did not enjoy this as much as Trent’s first novel, Boy Swallows Universe.

Passing onto a fellow Bookcrosser, Chardonnay today

To be released on the 7.27 Craigeburne line train