Of Ashes and Rivers That Run to the Sea

Delivered on the banks of the Mainoru River by her two full-blood grandmothers, Marie Munkara was born with light skin, which meant one thing—it would only be a matter of time before she would be taken by the authorities and given to a white family to be raised. Then, 28 years later, an old baptismal card falling out of a book changed the course of her life forever. It was a link to her past. Knowing that she had to follow her heart or forever live to regret it, Marie set out to find the family that she had lost, leaving her strict white Catholic parents aghast—why dig up the past? With devastating honesty, humor, and courage, the award-winning author of Every Secret Thing shares her extraordinary journey of discovery to find her origins.

Marie Munkara is of Rembarranga and Tiwi descent. Her first novel, Every Secret Thing, won the David Unaipon Award in 2008 and the Northern Territory Book of the Year in 2010. She has written two children’s books, Rusty Brown and Rusty and Jojo, and another novel, A Most Peculiar Act. Marie is presently working on the TV miniseries for Every Secret Thing.