Desert Tracks (Marly Wells & Linda Wells, Magabala)

Desert Tracks is a young adult time travel novel set in central Australia and written by daughter-mother duo Marly Wells, a proud woman of Warlpiri and white Australian descent, and Linda Wells. Through the entertaining speculative premise of literally getting lost in a book, Desert Tracks explores Aboriginal identity and culture. Millie, a Warlpiri teenager living in Alice Springs with her gregarious mother, Leni, is sucked up by a willy-willy while reading a historical novel and transported back to 1924. She soon meets Sonny, Spike and Beryl and together, they begin to explore the ongoing effects of racism. Despite living decades apart, the characters find they are not so different and their timelines share striking parallels. Each chapter is told from multiple points of view, with the formatting used to guide the reader. It’s an immersive way to illustrate the overarching message of the story: the past isn’t always completely in the past. At its core, Desert Tracks is about the power of stories. It also directly confronts the idea of looking back in order to move forward and the importance of acknowledging and righting past wrongs. The genre used to introduce readers to these themes has been deftly chosen and rendered. Words and phrases from the Walpiri language emerge within the text and a glossary provides definitions. Desert Tracks is a well-developed, lively and meaningful addition to First Nations young adult fiction for readers aged 12+ who enjoy Lisa Fuller’s Ghost Bird and Lystra Rose’s The Upwelling.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Karys McEwen is a librarian, author, and the education advisor for the Melbourne Writers Festival. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

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