The River and the Book

Simbala is a Keeper of the Book, the latest in a long line of women who can read the Book to find answers to the villager's questions. As developers begin to poison the river on which the villagers rely, the Book predicts change. But this does not come in the form that they expect; it is the sympathetic Westerner who comes to the village who inflicts the greatest damage of all. The River and the Book is an atmospheric young adult novel by award-winning Australian poet and author Alison Croggon. Combining magical realism and fable, this lyrical tale for younger readers and teens is the story of a landscape and community destroyed by Western greediness. Alison's latest YA novel is Black Spring. www.alisoncroggon.com