This is a story about the indomitable spirit of women who refuse to be broken in. And, simply put, this is one of the most incredible stories I have read in many years. I felt transported back to my childhood growing up in rural Australia, the sights, the sounds, the smell, the language, the people. I don’t know that this book will be for everyone, but Christ this book feels like it was written for me.

This is historical Australian fiction, set in an old rural town called Orilong in the years after the First World War. Billie King, the titular character, is a spirited twelve year old girl who can’t help but find trouble wherever she goes. Dulcie James the Lady Bushranger is tired of all the hard things life has thrown at her, but she is returning to Orilong with one loose end left to tie up. There is a connection between Billie and Dulcie, and we learn about this in flashbacks through the old diary of Billie’s Mum, Anna, who has her own story of finding the strength to continue despite immense hardship.

The story rotates through three viewpoints - Billie and Dulcie in 1930, and Anna in 1918 - painting a picture of life in Australia a century ago. The first thing you will notice is the Australian slang and way of speaking and it is wonderful. This not simply adding some swear words to character dialogue, it is baked into the very DNA of this book to the point where it’s a character in its own right. Billie, Dulcie, Anna and the whole of Orilong are brought to life so vividly that I found myself getting distracted by own memories and flashbacks.

The story itself? It is very dark, very confronting, deals with some very heavy content such as sexual assualt, PTSD, suicidal ideation, poverty, child abuse (formerly known as schoolhouse discipline), and more. Not only is the content dark, but that bloody author Shannon Kelly-White can’t help but to pile on the misery for our characters. And this is what makes Billie King shine (the book and the woman). Billie King is a beacon of determination, showing incredible strength and courage, brightened further by her compassion and values. You only need to read through boxing sequence, especially the scene with the kangaroo, to see why Billie King is a light so strong that she burns away the darkness. As the darkness burns away the threads of the story start to intertwine, secrets are revealed, motives are confirmed, and the conclusion hits like a ton of bricks!

I want to finish this review with two quotes from the book. If you want to know what type of book Billie King is, what type of characters Billie, Dulcie and Anna are, and why you should absolutely be moving this book to the top of your list, these two quotes should be all you need.

“Everyone seemed so damn keen on killing spirit. In horses. In her. Maybe life would be a hell of a lot easier if she’d just give hers up, but she couldn’t.”

“That’s what blokes don’t grasp about us women. How tough we are. Men, they dig a hole for us, she said. They tell us to fit ourselves in it, to lie down. So we do. They watch us, thinking we’ve given up but Lord knows we’re just resting, gathering ourselves and our thoughts and then we get back up. We do. Again and again, we climb out of that hole and have another swing.”

To use an Aussie colloquialism - this is a ripper of a debut novel!

The story is told from the point of view of three women - Dulcie, Anna & Billie - as their stories are told and finally converge. This has everything a reader could want - the human element, triumph over adversity, strong female characters, spirit - courage - endurance - all set in post WWI Australia.

I read this in one sitting - the gut wrenching action played out across the pages, drawing me ever deeper into the narrative, until I was so invested in both characters and story, I could see no way but forward till the final pages played their last ace.

If you have read Leah Purcell's :The Drover's Wife" or even watched the film, you will adore this.

One of my top reads for the year!