"My ancestors from the Baalijan people, where I descended from my mother, Amy, will offer me a resting place in the running stream, flowing from the cave at Baalijan Creek, uniting us with Booran land at Yaraan Grove, when I eventually return to eternity."

In this third instalment of the Dreamtime Mysteries series, Barnett returns to the familiar territory of Australia and the myths and spiritual history of Aboriginal culture. The densely woven narrative unfolds in rich, meticulous detail that centers on two protagonists and a sprawling cast of characters. Broken into five parts, Barnett's historical fiction novel is complete with relevant illustrations, footnotes, and a bibliography.

At the heart of the time-shifting and dense story is the decades-long trauma of racial oppression and atrocities against Aboriginal peoples in a "white-dominated society." The multi-layered novel, built with stories within stories, touches on difficult themes of race relations, genocide, destiny, loss, and redemption. The memoirs fill in a good portion of the novel before Barnett ultimately returns to Rex and Audrey's story. It is uncertain which parts of the narrative are the most captivating, as each story supports the novel as a whole.

Impressively, Barnett maintains narrative control of the large array of characters, intricately detailed, individually and collectively, across decades. The strength of the novel rests primarily on Rex and Audrey, their tale intermixing with the other stories' engaging the reader with an opportunity to learn something about Australia's complex history. Through this novel, Barnett remarks on humanity's transgressions and gives voice to displaced peoples and the nearly forgotten. It is through Rex and Audrey that the reader recognizes our universal need for truth and identity-all loose ends are tied together during the final chapters.

Dylon Ward, The US Review of Books December 2019