This is the story of a small group of survivors of a sinking refugee boat that was trying to reach Australia. They ended up shipwrecked on an uninhabited island off the coast of Western Australia. The refugees are from different countries and fleeing different situations. If they are discovered by officials they will be treated as illegal immigrants and sent to a detention centre.
Eventually, a lone fisherman discovers them and he enlists support of the small fishing village of Shoalhaven. As it turns out a high percentage of Shoalhaven residents are migrants or children of migrants, yet they all consider themselves as Australian and they rally around to support the refugees.
The characterisation of the individual refugees is very good. Amongst them is the traumatised, almost mute girl Jalila, whose eventual recovery is a little too contrived. The book ends with much unresolved and it would have been nice to know more of the story.
The author has managed to beautifully capture the imagery and atmosphere of the Western Australian coast setting.
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