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With an introduction from UQP’s First Nations Classics series editor Yasmin Smith, Swallow the Air is the much-loved debut of 2020 Miles Franklin Award-winner Tara June Winch.
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.
Author: Tara June Winch
Paperback Published 3 June 2025 192 pages
‘‘Tara June Winch’s heartfelt Swallow the Air is the work of a writer blessed with great natural talent and a good ear for dialect.’’ Sydney Morning Herald
‘‘Tara June Winch’s writing is startling: visceral, fresh and poetic.’’ Vogue Australia