The bequest

A visionary young Swedish scientist migrates to Australia in 1887 to pursue his research into the links that bind people, society and the natural world together but mysteriously disappears. One hundred and thirty years later, a young biologist, Ruby Rouge, stumbles across his diaries and begins a quest to unravel the mystery of his life. She is drawn closer to him, his revolutionary ideas and his family through a series of unpredictable visions, dreams and her own memories of childhood. Ruby’s journey takes her to the remote, rainforest-clad mountain that holds the secret of his demise and discovery and she must rely on traditional Indigenous custodians to restore the balance to their spiritual world. It is a story about Ruby reconnecting with her past through the present as she explores a future in the face of a looming global extinction event driven by climate change.