Purple Threads

Winner of the 2010 David Unaipon Award for Indigenous Writing

Country oozed water that winter. It fell from the sky and rose from the ground. Water from the hills met swollen river flats and turned wheat plains to swamplands. Big floods washed away the farmers’ profits, losses and rubbish in one giant tongue of brown water.

Growing up in the shifting landscape of Gundagai with her Nan and Aunties, Sunny spends her days playing on the hills near their farmhouse and her nights dozing by the fire, listening to the big women yarn about life over endless cups of tea.

It is a life of freedom, protection, and love. But as Sunny grows she must face the challenge of being seen as different, and of having a mother whose visits are as unpredictable as the rain.

Based on Jeanine Leane’s own childhood, these funny, endearing, and thought-provoking stories offer a snapshot of a unique Australian upbringing.