The White Girl is a black and white story about Australian colonialism''s malevolent legacies, and the courage, strength, and dignity of Indigenous resistance. It''s a story about strong women, with whom Birch''s life has been blessed. It is also a profound allegory of good and evil, and a deep exploration of human interaction, black and white, alternately beautiful and tender, cruel and unsettling. -- The Guardian "Birch is a writer with a profound gift for language and human insight. He writers with razor''s edge emotional clarity and empathy about people and place--especially on those Australian margins, rural and urban. The White Girl showcases his gift." -- The Guardian "The way Birch describes the day-to-day existence of his characters, so sweetly rendered, gives them a universal quality. The story is a truth even while the specifics of this novel are fiction, and this tale is a revelation of small details.

" -- Sydney Morning Herald "[Tony Birch brings] a lifetime of knowledge about Australian history, social policy, and cultural identity to this book, a deceptively simple story about family love that is rich in humanity and purpose, and hope. The White Girl is worth your time and will reward you over and over again." -- Australian Book Review "[The White Girl] explores the legacy and ongoing fallout of the Stolen Generation, and also touches on matters that are still pertinent and ongoing: the vulnerability of Indigenous women to sexual predation specifically, but on a larger scale, generational violence and toxic masculinity." -- The Big Issue (Australia) "Birch''s stories have always exuded a warm, lived-in feel, even in their bleakest moments, and in The White Girl his style reaches an apotheosis: there is a profound and rare clarity in the prose, and the pacing is excellent." -- The Saturday Paper "The White Girl is approachable and fiercely readable, its linguistic and cultural power cloaked in deceptively simple language." -- Sydney Review of Books Tony Birch is a local treasure. -- Jacinta Parsons The White Girl is a tense and gripping read.an important window into a shameful period of Australia''s very recent history, and a wonderful celebration of strong Indigenous women.

It''s a book that I hugged to my chest after reading the final page. -- Claire Nichols, The Book Show Tony Birch is one of those writers who has mastered the art of storytelling. His latest novel The White Girl is no different--in fact the characters he creates and the plotlines he weaves are almost hyperreal--you know people like Odette Brown and her grandbaby Sissy. -- Daniel Browning The White Girl is not given to sentimentality; instead it is a celebration of Aboriginal resilience and kinship in response to trauma. -- Arts Review "With a brisk pace and lush prose, Birch breathes life into Odette''s wrenching and courageous search for her daughter and the hope of a better life for Sissy. Readers will feel the pull of this harrowing story." -- Publishers Weekly "An uplifting novel that celebrates love, family, and the women who put those qualities first in their lives." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Award-winning Indigenous writer and activist Birch has created a poignant novel that keenly demonstrates how the strength of family bonds can shatter societal biases.

" -- Booklist "Set in the 1960''s in the midst of the government''s racist Stolen Generation policy, The White Girl remixes the typical genre expectations of historical fiction and noir to spin a unique and profound tale all its own." -- The Chicago Review of Books "Birch draws from his Indigenous background to craft a story that''s both heartbreaking and hopeful, and focuses on the strength that comes from a family''s love." -- Buzzfeed "a carefully crafted work of fiction that makes good writing seem easy." -- New York Journal of Books "Birch illustrates how Australia''s policies dehumanized not only the Indigenous people they sought to control--often by taking children from their families and placing them in white mission schools--but also the white people who were complicit in enforcing them." -- The New Yorker.