Vivienne Cleven delivers a sharp, darkly funny coming-of-age story set in a rough Queensland country town.

The novel follows Mavis Dooley, a young Aboriginal girl navigating school, family life, racism, and the relentless social hierarchies of a small community. Cleven writes with a mix of biting humour and blunt realism, capturing the rhythms of regional life—football clubs, gossip, classrooms, and domestic tension—while exposing the everyday violence and absurdities that shape Mavis’s world.

First published in 2001, the novel quickly became one of the most widely read works of contemporary Aboriginal fiction in Australia. Its voice is irreverent, angry, and very funny, refusing sentimental narratives in favour of something sharper: a portrait of resilience forged through wit, defiance, and the stubborn refusal to stay quiet.

This edition appears in the First Nations Classics series from University of Queensland Press, with a new introduction by Melissa Lucashenko, recognising the novel’s lasting place in Australian literary culture.