A Prayer for Blue Delaney

Front Cover
Allen & Unwin, Sep 1, 2005 - Fiction - 264 pages
'Don't worry,' said Bill. 'You can hide out here until you get your strength back. That is, if you don't mind an old man, a dog and a few ghosts for company.'

Colm is on the run, determined to escape from the cruelties of Bindoon Boys' Home. He strikes up an unexpected friendship with old Billy Dare and his dog Rusty, and together they travel from the goldfields of Kalgoorlie to the rugged north. Whether they're working along the Dog Fence, eluding the police or confronting a wild boar, they're a team. When Bill's life is at risk, it's up to Colm to go in search of the mysterious Blue Delaney and lay to rest the ghosts that haunt them both.

This action-packed story, set in the 1950s, continues the richly detailed historical quartet that began with Bridie's Fire and Becoming Billy Dare. Starting in the 1840s and ending in present-day Australia, the Children of the Wind quartet tells the stories of four courageous young people, Bridie, Billy, Colm and Maeve, born fifty years apart. The central character from each book becomes a mentor to the child in the next.
 

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Contents

Acknowledgements
A place in the
The luck of the Irish
The turning world
Dibs adrift
The first
Bindoon
The broken
Bush Christmas
Nugget on the goldfields
Seven sisters
Come in spinner
Stolen
The Dog Fence
Dare and McCabe
The letter

Nothing to lose
Acts of faith
Haunting messengers
Bitter truth
The diggers tale
Into the flames
The Wolfram Queen
Unforgettable
Wild boar country
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Kirsty Murray is the author of three junior novels - Zarconi's Magic Flying Fish (winner of the WA Premier's Children's Book Award, 2001), Market Blues and Walking Home with Marie Claire - in addition to the first two books in the Children of the Wind series. She has also written several non-fiction books for children. She has worked as a forest ranger, archivist, artist and teacher, and now is a full-time writer.

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