In this award-winning literary classic, Stephen Kinnane has written a deeply personal story of two remarkable people and of a vibrant, resilient Aboriginal community that flourished against the odds in the heart of Perth.
A powerful and lyrical work by a writer of vision and imagination, Shadow Lines is the story of Jessie Argyle, born in the remote East Kimberley and taken from her Aboriginal family at the age of five, and Edward Smith, a young Englishman escaping the rigid strictures of London. In a society deeply divided on racial lines, Edward and Jessie met, fell in love and, against strong opposition, eventually married. Despite unrelenting surveillance and harassment, the Smith home was a centre for Aboriginal cultural and social life for over thirty years.
About the author:
Stephen Kinnane is a Marda Marda from Mirriwoong country in the East Kimberley. He has been an active writer and researcher for more than 25 years as well as lecturing and working on sustainability, politics and history with a focus on regional and local community resilience, belonging and connections with place. His interests are diverse, encompassing Aboriginal history, creative documentary (both visual and literary), regional sustainability and resource scarcity. Kinnane co-wrote and produced The Coolbaroo Club (1996), an ABC TV documentary awarded the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Human Rights Award for the Arts, and collaborated with Lauren Marsh and Alice Nannup on When the Pelican Laughed (1992), the story of Mrs Alice Nannup (Fremantle Press).
Paperback: 384 pages
Dimensions: 23.3 x 15.5 x 3.0 cm
