Out of Alice (36 page)

1. ‘
   I want you to come back to Kings Canyon, to the scene of your abduction. It's the only way to get to the truth. If you see it again, the memories of what happened might return. Surely you want to know how your twin died?
   ' Do you think Sara had any real choice in returning to Kings Canyon?
   
2. Jack tells Sara that in the mulga, the definition of an optimist is ‘any mug on the land'. Do you think that the farmers in this novel are optimists?
   
3. The drought features prominently in the book. Discuss its significance in this story, including the ways in which it influences the course of events and the social, economic and psychological impact it has on the community.
   
4. ‘The bush holds many secrets. People vanish, perish, are murdered . . .'
   This is a work of fiction, but it could well be true. Discuss the role of the harsh landscape in other infamous cases of human disappearances in the Australian outback.
   
5. In one of Sara's earliest interactions with Justin, she invokes the term
   galli-galli
   , which she learned from Jack. It is a delicate term, in her words ‘a useful descriptive word for anything you don't understand'. On what levels does
   galli-galli
   operate in the novel?
   
6. Paul Markham's plays an integral role in
   Out of Alice
   but he is not characterised sympathetically. Do you believe Paul Markham is a hero or a villain in this story?
   
7. Discuss the theme of family as it is explored in this novel. What do you think it takes to make a ‘real' one?
   
8. Helen says, ‘There are times when this country could get you down if you let it,' but do we ever see her being down? Even in the face of enormous adversity, what do you think keeps her strong?
   
9. Identify times in the novel when bush humour is used. What role does it play in the lives of the characters and do you see its use as a means to survive the landscape? Do you ever witness it in the city characters?
   
10. Would Sara have been better off if she had never confronted the truth about what happened to her and Benny?
    
11. How does Sara's union with Jack influence her wellbeing? How does it echo the relationship that she shared with her twin, Ben?
    
12. Kerry McGinnis's prose is often described as being like poetry. Can you identify any such passages in this latest novel?
    

Gathering background for Sara's story involved a journey through the desert and I would like to thank Lyn Conway of Kings Creek Station, Northern Territory, for her willingness to answer my questions about road conditions in the area and other historical information from the seventies that I have used in this book.

Also my grateful thanks to the many people at Penguin Random House who helped in the preparation of the manuscript, most notably Ali Watts and Clementine Edwards. What writer wouldn't be lost without editors? Thanks heaps, everyone.

Kerry McGinnis was born in Adelaide and at the age of twelve took up a life of droving with her father and four siblings. The family travelled extensively across the Northern Territory and Queensland before settling on a station in the Gulf Country. Kerry has worked as a shepherd, droving hand, gardener, stockcamp and station cook, eventually running a property at Bowthorn, near Mt Isa. She is the author of two volumes of memoir,
Pieces of Blue
and
Heart Country
, and the bestselling novels
The Waddi Tree
,
Wildhorse Creek, Mallee Sky and Tracking North
. Kerry now lives in Bundaberg.

Pieces of Blue

Heart Country

The Waddi Tree

Wildhorse Creek

Mallee Sky

Tracking North

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First published by Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd, 2016

Text copyright © Kerry McGinnis, 2016

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Cover photographs: Background © Chris Hakanson;

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ISBN: 978-1-76014-047-2