Trade Paperback
9780143792062
January 2, 2019
Bantam Australia
336 pages
Audio Download
9781760890490
January 2, 2019
Random House AU Audio Adult
EBook
9780143792079
January 2, 2019
RHA eBooks Adult
336 pages
Chapter One
The three boys bounded through the grass towards the forest, a spray of panicky hoppers glimmering around them, while John Henry recited the passage from Scouting for Boys that approved the adventure. He nodded when he reached the end.
Mary fixed her eyes on the children, one arm raised to block the late-morning sun. ‘They’ve never gone so far on their own.’
‘George wants responsibility.’ John Henry smiled at his wife. ‘We should encourage him.’
‘Seven’s no age for responsibility, John.’ Nor, she thought, old enough to shepherd a six- and a four-year-old, neither of whom could walk unsupervised to their bedroom at night without veering off to investigate some amusing distraction. An insect, a thud. But she bit her tongue for fear the Scouts had something to say about that, too.
Mary watched her boys slow their pace and enter the forest, lifting their hands and knees as though wading into cold sea. In a blink they were gone, indistinguishable from the dark mess of pine trees, discarded branches and spiky undergrowth.
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