
‘District Court, Criminal Sittings’, Brisbane Telegraph, 31 January 1908 She, he said, was only a gin, and he could do what he liked with her. She was charged with shooting the accused, who in giving evidence against her, made no secret of what his intentions were towards the woman. Lucashenko throws her readers straight into the deep end, opening her novel with this newspaper quote confronting us with the reality, too long hidden, of the lived history of many Aborigines: It was also shortlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and the NSW Premier’s Literary award. It is an important contribution to our nation’s overdue conversation about contemporary Aboriginal lives and richly deserved winning the 2019 Miles Franklin Literary Award. In telling the truth about the reality of many Aboriginal families’ lives, Melissa Lucashenko has created a narrative that is brilliant both in its sheer literary attainment and for the story she has to tell. Melissa Lucashenko’s latest novel reveals the impact of history on contemporary Indigenous lives, and richly deserves its Miles Franklin Award. Tags: Australian fiction/ Australian Indigenous writers/ Australian women writers/ Melissa Lucashenko/ Miles Franklin Award/ Too Much Lip
