The Leopard Princess by Rosanne Hawke

The Leopard Princess is the sequel to Daughter of Nomads, concluding the story of fourteen-year-old Jahani. The novel picks up where the first ended with Jahani having refused Azhar's offer to fly to the northern kingdoms on his flying carpet. Instead she has returned to the nomads.

After awakening from yet another dream, Jahani receives a warning from Chandi. She immediately alerts Tafeeq and Rahul who order her to stay in the women's tent. They believe the war lord Muzahid Baig's soldiers are preparing to attack. At dawn as expected, the camp is attacked by Muzahid's men. When soldiers attempt to attack the women's tent, Jahani mounts Chandi and helps Neema and a young boy defend it, rescuing Kamilah. After the attack the nomad prince, Rahul is discovered missing. As it turns out he has been captured by Muzahid who is determined to force Rahul to find him the red haired shehzadi "who holds the key to the northern kingdoms". This is the second time Rahul has been captured and tortured by Muzahid, the first being when he was a ten-year-old boy. Dagar Khan wanted Muzahid to marry Jahani then hand her over to him so he could kill her. Rahul insists that the story of the lost shehzadi from the Kingdom of Hahayul is a legend, but Muzahid believes it to be true and offers Rahul the promise of land when he becomes Tham of Hahayul. He tells Rahul that he has disposed of  the shehzadi's adoptive parents, Baqir Abbaas and his wife Zarah. When Rahul refuses to help Muzahid locate the shehzadi, Muzahid has Rahul's middle finger cut from his right hand.

In the nomad camp  Jahani is visited by Yazan, the snow leopard who tells her that they need to travel north. That night Jahani and Anjuli riding Chandi and Rahul on his mare Farah leave Lalazar for the Babusar Pass. They are attacked in the small pass by badmarsh bandits.

Meanwhile Azhar is devastated that Jahani has refused to travel north with him on his magic carpet. When he learns that Jahani has left the nomad camp, he travels to the Babusar Pass. There he finds Muzahid's men waiting for Jahani. He also meets Jahani's foster mother, Hafeezah on her mare Sitarah, heading north to the Kingdom of Hahayul. She is travelling north to her home in Hahayul with Baqir Abbaas's troops under the command of Saman Abdul. Hafeezah informs Azhar that Muzahid has murdered Baqir and Zarah. Azhar has Hafeezah take his horse Rakhsh north, while he travels by carpet to this father, Kifayat in Jask. There he meets Bilal, the former wazir of  Hahayul. Azhar confesses his concern that Rahul may be taking Jahani to Muzahid. However, his father tells Azhar that Jahani's journey to the Qurraqoram Mountains will help prepare her and raise support.

As they travel north, Rahul tells Jahani he is uncertain that she is the shehzadi that has been foretold.  He tells Jahani how he came to find her twelve years earlier. The summer the royal family of Hahayul were murdered, the nomads travelled farther north than usual into the northern kingdoms. They stayed a few days in the town of Baltit in the Kingdom of Hahayul. Rahul was nine-years-old and while in the town, he learned that a terrible tragedy had occurred in the kingdom. While walking back to the nomad camp, Rahul saw a  lost, red-haired child fall into the river. He managed to rescue her and took her to the bazaar to see if anyone had lost a little girl. Her clothing was covered in blood and had burn marks. The chai walla seeing her red hair told him to hide Jahani as soldiers were out capturing any red-haired girls. The nomads quickly left Baltit, as armed men arrived in the town. Rahul, who had lost his mother and sister, had his Aunt Yasmeen care for her. At ten, Rahul was kidnapped by Muzahid who tortured him and cut off a finger on his left hand. Rahul's father Tafeeq and Aunt Yasmeen believed Jahani would be safer with Zarah and Baqir.

Jahani continues her journey northward for several days. At the Mazeno Pass, they are again attacked by bandits but are helped by Yazan. One night as they are resting, Jahani is warned by Chandi that men are approaching. They are confronted by men dressed in mismatched green shalwar qameezes, led by an unknown man. The man tells them that he is here not to fight but to talk. He identifies himself as Ali Shah, the second-in-command in the tham's army under Dagar Khan.  He refused to support Dagar when he rebelled and fled to avoid execution/ 

Ali tells Jahani the story of what happened when she was very young. He was part of a troop left behind to guard the tham - her father, the ghenish, the little shehzadi and their ministers. When troops were overcome by Dagar's men, he managed to get the shehzadi out into the street, but in the confusion they were trampled and the little girl fell into the fire. He was able to put out the flames and they escaped to the river. However the boat to take them to safety was not there and he was wounded by an arrow. The little child got away and ran to the river in fright. And Ali lost her. Now he is commander of the Makhfi, the hidden army, who are loyal to the royal family of Hahayul.

Jahani is shocked because Ali is describing her recurring dream. When Ali Shah asks Jahani her name, Rahul becomes angry but Yazan instructs her to do so. Jahani tells him her name and lowers her dupatta which covers the bottom half of her face. Ali tells her that Jahani was the nickname for the shehzadi and that her full name is Jahanara Ashraf Shaheen Khan. He also reveals that Dagar Khan is a distant cousin to her father, the late tham. Dagar Khan wants to produce the body of the shehzadi so that he can finally have his rule over the Kingdom of Hahayul accepted by the people. Despite her appearance and Rahul's story, Ali Shah is still unconvinced but when he sees the taveez around her neck, Ali is certain he has found the lost shehzadi.

Ali tells Rahul that he has one hundred men and that "another ten thousand are stationed in the forest near the town of Gilit with my captain, Irshaad." Men are infiltrating Dagar Khan's cavalry, training to overthrow him. He also reveals that Jahani's grandmother escaped the massacre and has been quietly organizing support.

These revelations overwhelm Jahani who now realizes she has a surviving relative and has finally discovered her identity. This leaves her with many questions: "What if she couldn't do what the people expected of her?...Would a man like Ali Shah want to rule for her?,,,Is this why Muzahid wanted to marry her? Did he know she was the shehzadi?" She wonders how she can defeat Dagar Khan.  Jahani's path to the throne of Hahayul will prove to be more dangerous and difficult than she could ever have imagined. With the help of Rahul and Azhar, Chandi and Yazan and many others, Jahani will have to overcome many obstacles including

Discussion

The concluding novel to the Jahani Tales, written in third person past tense,  is exciting and filled with intrigue. In The Leopard Princess, Hawke ties up all of her loose ends and crafts a tension filled but satisfying conclusion.

The novel picks up where the first one left off, with Jahani returning to the nomad camp, unaware of her true identity. Azhar has not revealed what he knows about Jahani, and Rahul is doubtful about the existence of the shehzadi, believing it to be legend. Through various characters, Jahani's past and her identity are gradually revealed to her.  In The Leopard Princess Jahani learns about her past and her heritage from Ali Shah, Rabb's cousin Nusrat, from Shehzadi Zeb-un-Nissa, from Kabeer Yazeed who is Jahani's uncle and imprisoned in Muzahid's dungeon, from her grandmother Kaniza, and even from Dagar Khan. But it is Ali Shah who reveals her identity.  When Jahani meets Ali Shah, his story coincides so remarkably with her nightmare of fire and terror, which he could only have known if he experienced it, that she realizes he is speaking the truth.

When Jahani finally discovers who she is and what her destiny is, she initially experiences conflict over who to trust, Rahul or Azhar and self-doubt as to whether she can truly rule her father's Kingdom. The Leopard Princess follows Jahani's personal journey from internal conflict and self-doubt to courage, trust and self confidence to act as a true queen for her people. Faced with the reality that she is the lost shehzadi whom the people of Hahayul have placed all their hope in, Jahani is filled with doubt. "With Yazan by her side, Jahani felt better. But still doubt had crept into her mind. How could she rise to this challenge and be the shehzadi when she hadn't been raised to rule?" Yazan advises her "You must be yourself."

Once Jahani accepts the truth of her identity she immediately begins to act on it despite her doubts. She makes the decision that "It would be best to regain the kingdom with peace, not war." even though she believes Ali Shah would ridicule this goal. Partly this is because Jahani now believes in the vision Yazmeen shared with her of a  "lost shehzadi, a girl with red hair and a snow leopard, come to the northern kingdoms, and she brought peace without a war." Jahani is not to be deterred; when Rahul counsels that she could return with him to the nomads Jahani tells him " You can return, but I would always feel I hadn't fulfilled my destiny."

The main challenge Jahani must confront is discerning who to trust. Partly this is the result of her being passed from family to family, from the nomads to Baqir and Zarah, then to Hafeezah and back again through her life. Because everyone around her seems to have a motive for helping her, Jahani is distrusts Ali Shah's motives and so she tells him,  'I want you to consult me in any plans as I need to learn about my position. What if I do not agree with your decisions?" When Ali balks at this she tells him, "And another person will rule in my name since I knew nothing...I think not." Jahani is inspired by the Angrezi rani - Queen Elizabeth who ruled England in the 1500s.

Although initially she trusted Azhar who has been protecting her since she lived in Sherwan, she begins to doubt after Rahul warns her about him. This doubt re-surfaces when Jahani accompanied by Rahul and Ali Shah, meets Azhar who suddenly appears on his magic carpet at the Indus River, offering to take her across the river to safety. Even though Chandi warns her to go north quickly, Jahani determined to make her own decisions, refuses Azhar.  This turns out to be a bad decision that results in her capture and eventual arrival in the harem of Muzahid.

In Muzahid's harem, talking to Shehzadi Zeb-un-Nissa, makes Jahani realize that she's "had no experience, no emperor or tham as father, no paternal authority to tell her what she could or couldn't do...Now many men told her to do what they wanted: to be safe, who to trust, who to marry. That would have to change."  

Unfortunately in her attempt to be independent, Jahani turns away the one person whom she can trust, Azhar Sekandar Khan. This is partly because Jahani doesn't know Azhar's true identity either. Hafeezah defends Azhar's actions in not revealing himself to her and cautions her, "We must always be careful that pride or hurt feelings don't blind us to truth." Although Jahani feels that she has acted in the best interests of the Kingdom of Hahayul, her heart tells her otherwise.

When Jahani feels betrayed by Azhar for his part in keeping her identity secret, and feels that there is no one she can trust, it is her grandmother who tells her that she has more allies than she knows.  Jahani comes to recognize that she has not treated Azhar fairly, that he is an ally and can be trusted. She calls for his aid and when Azhar arrives outside the zenana of Dagar Khan, Jahani learns how many people have come to her aid and just who she can trust.

In Jahani, Hawke has crafted an intelligent, courageous heroine, who is not afraid to act. Trapped in Muzahid's zenana or harem, Jahani isn't resigned to her fate but devises a plan to take out the war lord on her terms. She confronts him in his bedroom no less, demanding the use of her charmed sword, Shamsher and then with the help of Yazan slays him. When she arrives in Baltit, Jahani disguises herself to visit her grandmother Kaniza who is imprisoned in the the fort by Dagar Khan. She decides on a second visit because her grandmother  "Kaniza had seen her husband and her son ruling Hahayul; Jahani needed to tap that knowledge." And she decides on a very courageous path, turning herself into Dagar Khan, whom she knows will kill her in a public spectacle. Jahani shows just how important achieving peace in her kingdom is to her, when she is willing to offer her life for her people. She has changed a great deal from the young girl who witnessed the murder of her best friend only months earlier.

 In The Leopard Princess, all of the characters are fictional except Zeb-un-Nissa, who was a Mughal princess and famed poet who wrote under the pen name of Makhfi. She was the eldest daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb and his chief wife Dilras Banu Begum. Zeb-un-Nissa was highly intelligent and well educated in both the Quran and in the sciences.

Hawke rounds out her novel with  a map showing Jahani's convoluted journey to her kingdom, a list of main characters which is helpful but should have been placed at the front of the novel with the first map which details Jahani's journey up to that point, A Note About Languages, and a Glossary.

Young readers, aged 10 plus will enjoy the The Leopard Princess. Parents should be aware there are several murders, a reference to the rape of Jahani's mother and her murder while pregnant and also Jahani's placement in a harem or zenana. The author merely states these things and there are no graphic descriptions.

The Tales of Jahani are Rosanne Hawke's best works to date. It's obvious this story was dear to her heart and that reflects in the care with which these novels were crafted. The setting of the story, in the mountainous northern kingdoms of the Mughal Empire in 1662, the endearing heroine, the magical animals who aid her, the hint of something more between Azhar and Jahani, all combine to make this a unique historical fiction novel.

Book Details:

The Leopard Princess by Rosanne Hawke
St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press    2016
345 pp.

Daughter of Nomads by Rosanne Hawke

Daughter of Nomads is the first of two novels set in the Mughal Empire in 1662 about a young girl struggling to find her destiny. The novel opens in Sherwan, a village in the Kingdom of Hazara. Jahani lives with her mother, Hafeezah in a mud home in the village. Hafeezah is different from the other women in their village. She wears an embroidered cap with a white dupatta and her mother tongue is Burushaski, the language spoken in Hahayul, the most northern kingdom of the Qurragoram Mountains on the Silk Route. However, Hafeezah has insisted that they only speak Burushaski at home and Hindustani in public. Hafeeza is always concerned for Jahani's safety, often whispering blessings over her and even making Jahani wear a silver taveez, a sort of good luck token.

 Jahani awakens after a recurring nightmare, excited because this day, she and her best friend Sameela will be travelling to the bazaar to buy henna for Sameela's mehendi party. Sameela will be married next week after seven days of festivities. Jahani is taken to the bazaar with Sameela in a horse-drawn carriage, a tonga. When their tonga gets caught in a throng of donkey wagons and people, Jahani and Sameela jump out. As they leave a shop after Sameela buys henna and bangles, the two girls are pushed and fall to the ground. Jahani is unhurt, but Sameela has been knifed.  A stranger takes them back to Jahani's house where Sameela's father comes to claim his dead daughter. Jahani is devastated by the death of her best friend.

That night after Sameela's funeral and wake, Hafeezah reveals that she is not Jahani's birth mother and that her real parents are Aunty Zarah and Uncle Baqir who live in the Kingdom of Kaghan near the Kingdom of Hahayul in the Qurraqoram Mountains. When Jahani was four years old, someone tried to harm her but she was saved by the young son of Baqir's master of horse and by a snow leopard. The next day Zarah arranged for Hafeezah to take Jahani away to Sherwan. Now Hafeezah believes Jahani that she was the real target of the attack and is once again in danger.

The next morning Jahani tells Hafeezah she intends to journey north to find Zarah and Baqir despite Hafeezah forbidding it. Hafeezah arranges for Jahani to have an armed escort - the young man who brought Jahani and Sameela home from the bazaar. The young man, Azhar Sekandar has been guarding Jahani for some time. He advises they leave immediately to avoid the rainy season, bringing war horses for them to ride. 

That night Azhar flies southwest to to Persia on his Persian carpet. Azhar first learned that Jahani was alive when he was seventeen years old. His foster father, Kifayat Ullah indicated Jahani was alive but hidden in a village she had been taken to nine years earlier. Kifayat had made Azhar wait a year before searching for her, until he mastered flying the Persian carpet. This would allow him to return to Kifayat in Jask regularly. Azhar became Jahani's protector with the knowledge of Hafeezah.

Azhar wants to take Jahani to north to the mountains, but Kifayat advises Azhar to make the journey in stages so that Jahani can learn about her identity gradually. He returns to Sherwan, and early the next morning, with Jahani on a white horse named Chandi and Hafeezah riding Sitarah, they quietly leave. From the beginning, their journey north is fraught with difficulties. Two days in, they discover a Hindu village that has been completely wiped out with the exception of a little girl named Anjuli.

The following day they take Anjuli to her mother's family in a nearby village but they refuse to take her. So Anjuli stays with Jahani's party. That night after making camp, Azhar kills a scout tracking them. They leave immediately and spend the next weeks riding at night and resting during the day. Just inside the Kingdom of Kaghan, Azhar fights off another attack, this time with the help of Jahani. Eventually they arrive at Lake Saiful Maluk where Azhar is greeted reverently by his friend,Rasheed. In the safety of the hut, Azhar reveals that they are being followed by "the men of Dagar Khan from the northern Kingdom of Hahayul". He tells Jahani that he is a new King Zahhak - a new "Demon King" like that in the legends.

Meanwhile at Baltit Fort in the Kingdom of Hahayul, Dagar Khan, the self-appointed tham receives a report from a commander who insists that despite burning villages, they can find no evidence of the girl he seeks. However, Dagar Khan is insistent because his seer, Pir Zal continues to claim she is alive. His vision warns Dagar Khan that she will come to claim his throne and that she must be killed if he is to rule over all the northern kingdoms. He orders the commander to continue looking and also to take a message to the warlord Mazahid Baig.

Azhar flies to Jask to consult with his father. When he explains how Jahani helped him during a fight, Kifayat gives him a special scimitar called Shamsher, the Lion's Tail. This fabled curved sword has a hilt made of jade and embedded garnets. He orders Azhar to teach Jahani "all you know as if she were a boy."  When Azhar returns, he is almost seen by Jahani on his flying carpet. She notices his beautiful Persian carpet which she believes is his prayer carpet. Azhar gives her the scimitar, telling her to "keep it hidden until the time comes to wear it openly."

They leave the lake for Naran where Jahani will finally meet her parents. Jahani dresses as a boy to avoid recognition by those hunting for a girl with red hair. Although it will be only a five mile journey, Rasheed's son, Mikal has gone ahead to warn Baqir and Zarah of Jahani's arrival. Their journey turns deadly when they are attacked by armed men wearing red turbans. In her head Jahani hears repeated warnings and advice during the attack. She is able to fight off an armed attacker using Shamsher although the circumstances of the fight are bizarre to Jahani. She is met by Saman Abdul, commander of Baqir's troops. While Jahani is escorted safely into Naran, Saman and his troops go to Azhar's aid.

In Naran, yet another revelation awaits Jahani. Jahani feels distressed that she has no feelings for Zarah, her mother. But in Naran, Jahani learns much more about her life before she came to Sherwan. When her father arranges for her marriage to Mazahid Baig, who protects Naran, Jahani begins to suspect all is not as it seems. An overheard conversation between Zarah and Baqir as well as more revelations from Azhar convince Jahani to flee Naran, determined to uncover her true identity and her real destiny.

Discussion

Daughter of Nomads is probably Hawke's best novel to date. The novel combines the elements of a historical novel with mystery, adventure and a dash of fantasy to create a wonderfully engaging story. Its setting within the Mughal Empire during the seventeenth century is unusual and offers young readers a chance to learn about a culture and era they likely would not study in school. To help readers understand the context of events in the novel, Hawke includes a large map showing Jahani's journey north through the Mughal Empire. A note about the Mughal Empire would also have been very useful.

The Mughal Empire was essentially a Muslim empire with strong Persian and Indian influences. It ruled most of the Indian subcontinent from the early sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. The Mughal dynasty was characterized by its successful integration of both Indian and Muslims into a coherent, functioning state and by its ability to govern over such a large area. The empire was founded by a descendant of Genghis Khan. The Chagatai Turkic Prince Babur was descended from Timur and Chagatai, the second son of Genghis Khan. Through a series of military conquest, Babur was able to conquer all of northern India. At the time of this novel, the Emperor  Aurangzeb ruled. This story is set is the most northern region of the empire.

The story is told in the third person narratives of Jahani, her protector, Azhar Sekandar and Dagar Khan, "the self-appointed tham of the Kingdom of Hahayul". who is determined to capture Jahani and kill her.  Jahani begins the story believing she is a simple girl with a limited future, living in an small village. She knows that without a father and a dowry, she will never marry. Jahani's real future is foreshadowed in her daydreams of being "a warrior girl wielding a scimitar like Gordafarid daughter of an old Persian hero..." She also hopes to be "loved passionately like the Emperor Shah Jahan loved his wife, Mumtaz." 

However, Jahani's life changes forever when her best friend is killed and Jahani learns that she was the intended target. From this point on, she discovers that there is more to her past than she knew. When she learns that Hafeezah is not her birth mother, Jahani embarks on a what becomes a journey or momentous self-discovery.  With each attempt on her life, Jahani grows more puzzled. She doesn't understand why Dagar Khan is pursuing her. Jahani also finds herself seemingly able to communicate with Chandi her horse and is able to save the nomad sheep by stopping the wolves from attacking. Her strange ability to use Shamsher, a fabled scimitar is also puzzling to her. Her recurring dreams of a boy, a peacock and a snow leopard are based in reality as Jahani becomes convinced the boy is Azhar and the snow leopard is Zadi. Jahani feels a strong attachment to the mountains of the north, although she doesn't know why this is so.

In Naran, Jahani meets Zarah and Baqir but learns they took her from the nomads. With the nomads she meets Yazmeen whom she is led to believe is her mother, and sister of Tafeeq Baseer who rules the nomads along with his son, Rahul. However Jahani has much more to learn about her past. By the end of the novel, readers will know more about Jahani's identity than the character does. This remains for Jahani to discover in the second novel.

Although the reader is given many hints as to Jahani's true identity, for example the verse quoted by the seer Pir Zal, it isn't until later in the novel, in Azhar's narrative that the full story comes out. Kifayat tells his friend Bilal about how Dagar Khan simultaneously attacked the Kingdoms of Hahayul and Nagir. Azhar was six years old and living with Kifayat when Nagir was attacked first. He and Kifayat set out to warn the Kingdom of Hahayul about the attack but were too late.It was believed that the two-year-old shehzadi (princess) had escaped and Dagar Khan's men began kidnapping young girls with red hair. Kifayat continued to look for the little shehzadi and eventually found such a girl with the nomads. She knew her name was Jahani , spoke Burushaski and wore a silver taveez. Jahani lived with the nomads for two summers until she was adopted by Zarah and Baqir, wealthy landowners in the Kingdom of Kaghan. During this time Kifayat and Azhar followed Jahani, offering his services as a master of horses. When another attempt was made on Jahani's life at age four, she was hidden in a village in the south.  Azhar also reveals to Bilal that he is Shehzada of Nagir, thought to have been killed in the attack. No one knows that he survived.

Hawke incorporates Persian fables and historical facts into Daughter of Nomads. The purpose of using the Persian stories is to foreshadow Jahani's destiny and true identity. For example, when Azhar is leading Jahani and Hafeezah northward, he tells them a story about the famous King Merdas and his evil son Zahhak who came to be known as the Demon King. This is a story from the famous Shahnameh, The Persian Book of Kings. When Hafeezah questions Azhar as to what happened to him he tells her about how the Demon King dreamed that he would be killed by a man named Feraydun. "The Demon King searched for him and killed his father, but Feraydun's mother saved the baby and secretly gave him to a cow herder to bring up safely. When he was in danger again, his mother took him to the mountains where he played in fields of wildflowers." In fact, Jahani has dreams in which she remembers playing with a boy and a snow leopard in a field filled with flowers. The story is a hint that Jahani will play a similar role in the demise of Dagar Khan who has been told that "the woman with the leopard's heat" will come to take his throne.


After Jahani tells Azhar about her strange experience with Chandi, he tells her a story about the northern kingdoms. "The first mir of the kingdoms of Hahayul and Nagir - for they were one kingdom at that time - was born of the union of the great Sekandar and a pari (fairy). It is said that the pari's powers appear sometimes in descendants - they are given gifts." When Jahani inquires as to what those gifts might be Azhar states, "They are able to understand certain animals, have unusual strength, or can wield weapons with minds of their own. Usually descendants have only one gift, but in rare instances more than one is inherited." This story of course is a hint of Jahani's true identity and the origin of her special abilities which are beginning to be manifest.

Hawke also infuses the story with some historical information as well. For example, when they are  entering the ancient village of Mansehra, Azhar tells Jahani how the large rocks at the entrance to the village were inscribed by Ashoka the Great, with the promise that he would only conquer by righteousness after conquering  by massacring the entire village. This is in fact a real historical event that happened. Ashoka assumed the throne after killing all of his brothers, except one, in 272 B.C. He was known as a cruel and ruthless leader. In 265 B.C., he conquered the Kingdom of Kalinga, destroying cities, burning villages and murdering thousands. When he surveyed the carnage, Ashoka was overwhelmed by what he'd done and had a complete conversion. The story serves to provide some cultural background for readers.

Hawke has crafted a wonderful historical fiction novel for young readers with a strong, capable heroine in Jahani. In the character of Azhar, readers have a young man who exhibits self-control, courage, and respect towards women. Daughter of Nomads is based on a story Hawke told her children, years ago, when they were on vacation in the Karakorum Mountains in Pakistan. It is, as she describes it, an "alternate history what could have happened if the little kingdoms of the area now called Pakistan banded together and fought for their freedom." The map and lovely pencil illustrations were done by D.M. Cornish.

Daughter of Nomads is well worth reading; Jahani's story concludes in the second book The Leopard Princess. Suitable for ages nine and up.

Book Details:

Daughter of Nomads by Rosanne Hawke
St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia: University of Queensland Press     2016
290 pp.