Swallow the Air

When May's mother dies suddenly, she and her brother Billy are taken in by Aunty.

However, their loss leaves them both searching for their place in a world that doesn't seem to want them. While Billy takes his own destructive path, May sets out to find her father and her Aboriginal identity.

Her journey leads her from the Australian east coast to the far north, but it is the people she meets, not the destinations, that teach her what it is to belong.

Swallow the Air is an unforgettable story of living in a torn world and finding the thread to help sew it back together.

About the Author

Tara June Winch is an Australian writer based in France. She has written essay, short fiction and memoir for Vogue, Vice, McSweeney's, and various Australian publications and anthologies. Her first novel, Swallow the Air, was published in 2006 and won numerous literary awards, including the David Unaipon Award and a Victorian Premier's Literary Award.

It has been on the education and HSC syllabus for Standard and Advanced English in Australia since 2009. In the same year she was awarded the International Rolex Mentor and ProtUgU Award that saw her work under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.