This was not an easy read, but I'm glad I persisted with it. The three narratives intertwine to show both the historic (and ongoing) ill-treatment of Australia's indigenous people, and the story of a family with tragedy in their past coming to terms not only with the death of their patriarch but also with the impending loss of their land to an oil company. The characterisation is good, and I really felt for August, the main character, as she comes home and tries to come to terms with her past and her present. Not an easy tidy ending, but a believable one.