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Dust by Christine Bongers
Call Number: F BON
ISBN: 9781741664461
Publication Date: 2009
Dust is a coming of age novel set against the cultural backdrop of 1970's Australia and the particular social and environmental climate of rural Queensland at that time. Told by 12
year old Cecelia Maria, it covers the events of several months in late 1972 and early 1973 as Cecelia battles the injustices of being the only girl
in a large Catholic family, the difficulties of living and working on the land during
an extended period of drought, and the schoolyard politics of the local primary and high school. Dust is a novel of transition:
from drought to flood,
from childhood to adolescence,
from innocence to maturity, and from ignorance to hard-won wisdom.