Harmless

Full of suspense, Harmless is the tightly-woven story of eight-year-old Amanda, her father Dave who is serving time in prison, and Rattuwat, a foreigner come to bury his daughter in a strange land.

Abandoning their broken-down car on the way to visit Dave in prison, Amanda and Rattuwat venture into the trackless scrub and detritus of Perth's outer suburban fringe. As the day heats up, the sense of menace intensifies and each of them enters the no-man’s-land between safety and peril. Haunting all three, and each in their own way, is Sua, a recently deceased visa over-stayer whose tragic, simple life has served to demonstrate what it means to love.

"The whole canvas of Australian life – its ethnic diversity, its violence, its growing divisions of class and economic status, its convoluted history of linkage with South East Asia – is made vivid in this remarkable novella."
–Janette Turner Hospital

"… this absorbing tale about a resilient child living on the margins contains evocative writing and raw emotional insights. Verdict: poignant."
–Herald Sun

"Can a book have a soul? This one does."
– The West Australian.

Fremantle Press

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