Graves in the Wilderness

"Piper Campbell, the son of Ulster-Scott migrants befriends N’Kawa, the only survivor of the East Texas black Indian Karankawa tribe. As brothers, the two become inseparable. The horrors of the American civil war behind them, Piper and N’kawa, ­disillusioned and alone, sell their Texas estate and travel the seven seas in search of new land to rebuild their lives as cattlemen. Settling in Australia, the enterprising two seize an opportunity to establish themselves in Cooktown, a fledgeling port that would see tens-of-thousands of hungry miners pass through on their way to the rivers of gold in the Cape York Wilderness. There, they become unwilling participants of the first overland expedition from Cooktown to the Palmer River as protectors of the ostracised but resourceful Chinese. They soon find themselves involved in yet another war, this time as unwitting participants bearing arms against the local Aboriginals, known as the Merkins, a formidable and ferocious foe. In the events that ­follow, they suffer unimaginable heartbreak and loss. Graves in the Wilderness is a fast paced, exciting, brutal and often confronting novel. Rich in incident, compassion and frustration ... a novel that captures the essence of a by-gone era."