The Great Inland Sea

"The Great Inland Sea is a novel about a boy who escapes the scorched landscape of his youth and returns as an adult to nurse his ailing father, discovering the secrets buried there." "David Francis's debut novel tells a story of a boy's loss and enduring hope as he endeavors to forge connections with the world around him. After witnessing his mother's death, Day flees his remote family farm in New South Wales to become caretaker of a racehorse named Unusual, with whom he travels to America." On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Day falls in love with Callie, a tough and ambitious young American who wants to be the first licensed woman jockey. Their destructive love ultimately leads him back to the Riverina, where he began, and where his past reveals itself in ways that even he would never have imagined.