Trent has pulled it off again. This story enfolds you in an embrace you don’t want to wriggle out of.
When we meet the girl with no name, who has been raised on the run, she’s now living in a Brisbane scrap yard and running drugs for money. Portrayed as complex and articulate, seeing the world through the eyes of a talented artist, she is a visionary of her own story, whilst living amongst people who are morally white, morally grey, and, terrifyingly, morally black.
Her journey as a baby began under heart-rending circumstances and we are a party to the most agonising and enthralling emergence from her struggle with appalling losses to that of a hope-filled young artist, who finally has a future and, significantly, a name.
Trent’s attention to detail regarding Brisbane is so well etched that the city is as much a character in the book as the people he portrays, and his obvious understanding of the homeless/houseless crisis gives this wondrous story an emotive context for all those decisions made by people who are morally white, grey or black.
A phenomenal read.