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My old friend Richard Begbie invited me to design and produce of this powerful novel. It was more than a pleasure to engage deeply with this work which tells the improbable tale of Garrett Cotter, Irish rebel and convict. Transported for life, he is re-convicted in the colony and befriended by a feared, reclusive Aboriginal leader. His story takes us to a haunting moment in colonial history, rich in possibility. A river, a valley and a great dam will ultimately carry his name, but in 1828 he was yet to learn the secrets of the region that his friend and mentor Onyong called my country. An important story of banishment, displacement, and crucial first contact, Cotter also tells of a moving and unlikely friendship between two outcasts. Here is beautiful, assured writing about people and place. A novel for readers of Kate Grenville’s The Secret River.