Two extraordinary stories set five generations apart are connected by a violent colonial history, in Melissa Lucashenko's stunning historical epic

'Lucashenko is a national treasure: there are no two ways around it.' Vogue Australia

* Already the winner of eight major literary awards, including Australia's richest literary prize *

TWO UNFORGETTABLE STORIES. TWO FAMILIES. TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF HISTORY.

1854: When Mulanyin meets the beautiful Nita in Brisbane – or Edenglassie, as it was once briefly known – his community still outnumbers the British settlers. Tensions are simmering just beneath the surface of a fragile peace, but hopes for independence are running high. Yet when colonial unrest tears through the region, Mulanyin's passion for his new bride clashes with his loyalty to a homeland in danger.

Two centuries later, fiery activist Winona meets Dr Johnny when her grandmother Eddie has a serious fall. Winona just wants the obstinate centenarian back on her feet, but a shrewd journalist has other ideas. Eddie becomes a local celebrity, dominating the headlines as 'Queensland's Oldest Aboriginal'.

Her time in the spotlight brings past and present crashing together, the legacy of Nita and Mulanyin's tragic past reaching into Winona and Eddie's lives with consequences they couldn't have predicted.