For all known time, Muraging's people have lived on this land between the river and the sea. But when the first British settlers begin to arrive in Australia, they lay claim to the continent. At ten years old, Muraging is sent to the Parramatta Native School, where the missionaries call her Mary James, and force her to abandon her culture and language. Six years later, Muraging flees, embarking on a journey of discovery and a search for a safe place—an odyssey far more winding and treacherous than she ever dreamed.