Blood

THE COUNTRY WE WERE DRIVING THROUGH WAS FLAT AS AN IRON AND BONE DRY. THE SKY WAS BIG, BLUE AND EMPTY, EXCEPT FOR A FLAMING BALL OF SUN, LOW IN THE SKY. IT HAD TRACKED US ALL DAY LIKE A SATELLITE AND IT LOOKED ABOUT READY TO EXPLODE.Jesse has sworn to protect his sister, Rachel, no matter what. It's a promise that cannot be broken. A promise made in blood. But, when it comes down to life or death, how can he find the courage to keep it?Set on the back roads of Australia, Blood is a boy's odyssey through a broken-down adult world.'Many of us have known for a long time what a wonderful storyteller Tony Birch is. Blood confirms it and how. The terrain is hard, unflinching but also imbued with a deeply resonant humanism. For at its heart there is Jesse, the young narrator whose voice is urgent and compelling, sweet and direct.'CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS