Desert Fish

How far will Gilly go to become someone new?

'Gilly. You know we'll die here, don't you?' Pete's eyes are glazed and red-rimmed. 'Yes.' 'Aren't you afraid?' 'No, I'm not,' I tell him. 'I can't believe you,' he says. 'I don't believe you're not afraid.' He wants us to be joined now, at this moment. He doesn't want to die alone. But I mean it. I'm not afraid.

Gilly lives in a drought-ridden small town in 1970s Australia. She's left school but hasn't found a job, it's always hot and life seems a little pointless. Then Pete arrives. Golden-skinned with a kind smile and relaxed attitude, he boards with Gilly and her family and breaks the tension between her philandering father and anxious-to-please mother. Gilly can't help but fall in love with him and one sultry night, she gets what she wants.

A few weeks later, Pete disappears and Gilly finds out she's pregnant. She wants Pete so badly she'll do what it takes to find him and keep him, at any cost. A dark love story, Desert Fish is a powerful and unflinching debut novel.