Njunjul the Sun
The storyline for NJUNJUL THE SUN made itself known to me the same night as the storyline for THE BINNA BINNA MAN. But once THE BINNA BINNA MAN was written and published, NJUNJUL got left on the back burner.
Boori was busy traveling all over Australia performing in schools. I was eager to get back to writing a novel I’d started before meeting Boori and writing the first three books of our collaboration.
As always happens writing books, the best laid plans get interrupted. Another little book poked its head up from nowhere and demanded attention. This book was to become FLYTRAP.
Although FLYTRAP was written, our agents Jenny Darling and Jacinta di Mase gave the insightful advice that it didn’t seem the best book to publish next. They knew of the plan to write NJUNJUL THE SUN and thought it was much better to complete the Girragundji trilogy before bringing out another book for young readers.
So, the novel was put away again, the heat was turned up on NJUNJUL, and Boori and I started concentrating our phone conversations across the land on remembering our teenage experiences.
One of these conversations took place as we were driving from Adelaide to Melbourne. We were discussing the Rhonda/Njunjul relationship. I never realized how short a ten-hour trip could be once you start discussing first loves!
Although NJUNJUL THE SUN is the longest book in the trilogy, it took the shortest time to write.
Cover Blurb
A 16-year-old Aboriginal boy leaves his family and home for the big city, and as he struggles to make sense of his experience he realises that he must have the knowledge of his own people and culture in order to know who he is, and to find his direction.
'I'm heading out on m'own, down the highway to the big city. Going south. I lost my taste for knowing the old ways. I'm wanting what's new. What's exciting, what's out there on the other side of town. That's what got me on this bus. I gotta get out, see. This is my chance. My chance to do something.'
But in the city you can feel like you don't exist any more. You can't always see the sun when it comes up, or lie down safe when it sets. Your mind can go crazy, crammed with everyone else's thoughts, so you can't hear your voice on the inside.
An outstandingly honest, original, eye-opening story about a young man daring to step out into a complex world. Njunjul the Sun will make you laugh, even as it grips your heart.
NJUNJUL THE SUN completes the trilogy, begun with My Girragundji and The Binna Binna Man, charting the journey of self-discovery of a young Aboriginal boy as he learns to draw strength from his traditional heritage and to find a way of living in contemporary Australia. The boy is now a young man of sixteen, and he leaves his community in Queensland to live in Sydney.
NJUNJUL THE SUN develops the innovative combination of text, photographs and illustrations that was established in My Girragundji.
