Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin with his uncanny ability to dig was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a bleak landscape during the Great Depression the silent and elusive little Tin - "born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings" - begins to escape underground tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes Tin becomes a wild thing leaving his family further and further behind. With exquisite prose richly drawn characters and a touch of magical realism Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s an unsentimental portrait of a loving family faced with poverty and heartbreak entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far yet remains hauntingly near.
