The White Girl

January 31, 2022
Australian writer Birch makes his U.S. debut with a sad yet heartening tale of cruelty and prejudice against Indigenous people. In the harsh landscape of 1960s Australia, Aboriginal people are denied citizenship and placed under the legal guardianship of a local protector. Odette Brown, who is Aboriginal, has been raising her 12-year-old granddaughter, Sissy, in the government district of Deane, to stop Sissy from being taken by the authorities. In chapters conveying flashbacks as well as current tensions, Birch implies that Sissy’s mother, Lila, who abandoned Sissy a year after giving birth, was raped by Sissy’s father, a white man named Joe Kane. Odette’s life takes a dramatic turn when she must undergo an operation in the capital, where Lila lives. She gets permission from the sheriff to travel, but doesn’t want to leave Sissy behind out of fear she’ll be taken by the brutal Kane family. So she makes the risky choice to disguise Sissy as a “white girl” after determining that it’s their only way out, and leaves with Sissy to find Lila and check into the hospital. With a brisk pace and lush prose, Birch breathes life into Odette’s wrenching and courageous search for her daughter and the hope of a better life for Sissy. Readers will feel the pull of this harrowing story.

February 15, 2022
Keeping family together is difficult enough for this Aboriginal group still struggling with the devastating protectorate rule of Australia's colonial white society in the 1960s. It is even harder for Odette Brown, who is raising her fair-skinned granddaughter while trying to understand why the girl's mother, Odette's daughter Lila, abandoned her infant child a dozen years ago. When Odette finally learns that Lila was raped by a nearby racist landowner, she is even more determined to track down her daughter's whereabouts. To do so, however, she will need a travel permit, and the new head of the local police is zealously determined to keep Aborigines such as Odette and her granddaughter, Sissy, under his strict jurisdiction. When Odette secures the necessary paperwork through a bit of chicanery, she and Sissy embark on a journey that takes them into the heart of a world that is changing more than she could ever have imagined. Award-winning Indigenous writer and activist Birch has created a poignant novel that keenly demonstrates how the strength of family bonds can shatter societal biases.

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Starred review from February 15, 2022
In this novel by Indigenous Australian author Birch, generational trauma and healing are explored through the lives of a dark-skinned woman and her light-skinned granddaughter. Odette Brown is the proverbial strong Black woman, but that's where simple categorizations cease. Odette's daughter, Lila, abandoned her own toddler more than a decade ago, leaving the light-skinned girl in Odette's care. Now Sissy is on the verge of her teenage years, having known only the love and protection of her grandmother, and a rigid new officer, Sgt. Lowe, has arrived to run the local police station. Unlike the old guard, which was content leaving well enough alone, this new lawman is a zealot, convinced of the righteousness of his cause, which spells trouble for Odette and Sissy. They're Aboriginals, and with her mother gone, Sissy should fall under the guardianship of the state, a policy that Lowe intends to enforce. The shameful true history of Australia's racist policies of the early- and mid-20th century is presented in part through Odette's story but also through snippets about other families torn apart by this disastrous program as Birch shines a light on the countless untold stories of the Stolen Generation. With accessible prose and a driving plot, Birch brings the period to life, and the depth and realism of the characters give the book a feeling of authenticity. Odette's dogged resolve is matched by the kindness and bravery of her supporters, both White and Black, as she and Sissy fight to stay together. Birch plumbs the murk for a story that's all heart. An uplifting novel that celebrates love, family, and the women who put those qualities first in their lives.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 26, 2019
Tony Birch’s latest novel tells the story of Odette Brown and her granddaughter Sissy, who live on the fringe of Deane, a fictional town situated between the mountains and the desert in post-WWII Australia. Few people remain in the old huts that housed workers of the now-defunct nearby quarry, and run-down Quarrytown is part of an Aboriginal reserve. However, the negligent local policeman, Officer Shea, doesn’t enforce the Aborigines Welfare Act. When Sergeant Lowe arrives to replace Officer Shea, he is determined to tighten control over Aboriginal people in the district. Under the Act, this puts Sissy at risk of being removed from her grandmother’s care. Odette must now break the law to keep her safe, while in the city, growing support for citizenship for Aboriginal people begins to destabilise the Act’s powers. Themes of Aboriginal rights, non-Indigenous male violence, post-war migration, family resilience and a dying river make The White Girl very relevant, and it would be suitable for inclusion on high school and university reading lists. With a uniquely Australian setting, a compelling narrative, malevolent antagonists and determined female protagonists, The White Girl will appeal to a wide audience. Readers will find it hard to put down.

Karen Wyld is a freelance writer and author