Castaway

by Joanne van Os

Two brothers must learn to work together to save the life of a child they hardly know in this thrilling fiction story about life on the plains of Australia

Sam and George, 13 and 11, live at Brumby Plains, their parents' sprawling buffalo station in the Northern Territory of Australia. Brumby Plains is an isolated place where the outside world doesn't intrude much, but when the boys discover a refugee child washed up on the shores of their station, the rest of the world is brought a lot closer. An accident has taken their parents far away and Uncle Mungo has strong views about refugees so the two brothers hide the child while they work out what to do. Along the way, Sam discovers that it's a lot harder to stand up for what you believe in than to follow the crowd.

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Joanne van Os grew up in Melbourne, and has been reading since before she can remember. She was lured to the Northern Territory in 1976 for a short term job, and stayed. Life in the NT's remote places meant jobs like bullcatching, buffalo and cattle mustering, station management and ownership, and tourism.

Life with her first husband, known as the "Real Crocodile Dundee", brought about her first book, best selling memoir "Outback Heart", in 2005. Three children's novels followed, all adventure mystery stories for 9 to 12 year olds, and set in the remote north of Australia. Her first general fiction novel, "Ronan's Echo", was published in March 2014.

After 8 years living aboard and sailing in SE Asia and Australia, Joanne and her husband Lex live in Darwin.

Website: Http://joannevanos.com
Facebook: Joanne van Os Australian Author

Reviews

[Isaac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Castaway is a novel about two brothers, Sam and George McAllister, discovering a shipwreck. Illegal immigrants are prohibited on Brumby Plains, but Sam and George try to change this after finding a small child near the boat. Sam and George have to try and protect the child from the immigration workers, and the cage the workers would put him in. Will the brothers surpass the interviewers and all the newspaper articles? Will the child be safe? I chose this book because I was examining my bookshelf and I saw this book. I read the back and thought it looked decent and decided to try it. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to people who enjoy realistic fiction.

[Sally906 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the exciting ‘Brumby Plains’ series finds Sam and his younger brother rescuing an illegal immigrant child who is the only survivor from a boat wreck. The two boys have to fight racism and the Australian Governments policy to prevent a little girl from being imprisoned. Another very good yarn from Australian author Joanne Van Os with a very topical subject of what to do with boat people and how they should be treated.

[Sarah Thornton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly complex take on life in the top end, the dangers of daily life and self-examination of bigotry on the part of Uncle Mungo.
A little far fetched that immigration laws would ever be humane in Australia, but definitely gives hope for the future.