Bereft

At the age of 16 Quinn Walker was found with a bloody knife in his hand and his 12 year old sister, Sarah, dead at his feet.  He panicked and ran.  Afterwards his family and community thought the great outback had gotten him, but rather the army had.  He served in the Great War and was returning home to set the record straight.

He finds his mother stricken with influenza, but he can only approach her when his father has left the homestead.  His mother believes in his innocence, but no one else does.  Those that believe in his guilt would kill him if they knew he was back.

One morning Quinn awakes in his campsite to find a young girl watching him.  She is a waif who seems to know everything.  Sadie Fox is an orphan.  She knows the outback and how to supply them with food.  Quinn is able to spend a little time with his mother each day quietly talking and caring for her.  As he cares for her, we learn his story of what happened to him following Sarah's death.

Sadie draws the story of Sarah's murder out of Quinn and what he saw that day.  She encourages him to exact revenge.  Author Chris Womersley draws the tale to an interesting conclusion.  A very good read.