SkinsShipwrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1835, Dorothea Newell, a young English woman, is marooned on an island in this compelling novel based on a true story. A raw tale of survival unfolds as Dorothea and the other castaways come to terms with the seal hunters encamped on the island and with the desolate environment. Also depicted are the reassimilation challenges that Dorothea faces when she returns to civilization. |
Common terms and phrases
ain't Anderson asked Bass Strait bastard beach beneath beside black women boat breath brown bush camp chest Church close clouds cold dark Dinah dirt door doorway Dorothea looked edge eucalypt eyes face feet felt fire Flinders Peak front going gone Goose Island gown granite grey grinned hair hand head Isaac Jansen Jem's Kangaroo Island King George Sound knew knife leant leaves legs lifted light limpets mainland Mary Mary's Matthew Mead Mooney mouth moved muttonbirds neck nodded Owens Pacific gull paperbark pulled pushed rain reached realised remembered rock rubbed sail sand sandhill seal sealer shook shoulder shrugged side sideways sister skin skirts smell smiled smoke stared sticks stood Swan River colony swell thick thin thought took trees turned Van Diemen's Land voice walked wall wanted watched waves Western Australia whaleboat wind wondered wrapped
Popular passages
Page 115 - ... trees in summer yield him shade, In winter fire. Blest! who can unconcern'dly find Hours, days, and years slide soft away, In health of body, peace of mind, Quiet by day, Sound sleep by night; study and ease Together mix'd; sweet recreation, And innocence, which most does please, With meditation. Thus let me live, unseen, unknown ; Thus unlamented let me dye ; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lye.
Page 225 - W. Jeffrey Bolster, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail (Cambridge, Mass...
Page 54 - Boulaye called her lover — standing with his back to the fire, his hands clasped behind him, the very picture of surliness.
Page 90 - The wind had dropped, and I could hear the roar of the sea as it broke on the point.
Page 225 - The World of John Boultbee Including an Account of Sealing in Australia and New Zealand...
Page 75 - They got down on their hands and knees and crawled under the sticks and branches that crisscrossed the dry creek bed.
Page 23 - Mary looked down at her hands, which were clasped tightly on the table. No one moved. Dorothea watched an ant as it crawled along the edge of the table. Matthew straightened. Tll be outside,