Arthur Corunna's Story

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Growing up in Perth, Australia, in an impoverished, but lively and chaotic household dominated by her mother and grandmother, Morgan was 15 before she realized that she and her four siblings were of mixed Aboriginal descent. In this autobiography, she describes her efforts to identify with and record her family heritage. Oral histories gathered from her reticent and still fearful mother and grandmother, anxious to shield their children from the social stigma of their origins, are supplemented with accounts from relatives she tracked down in Northwest Australia's Aboriginal Reserves and livestock stations. They vividly describe the suffering caused by a government policy that took half-caste Aboriginal children away from their mothers. Although some Aborigines have successfully competed in Australian society, the author seems to agree with her uncle's contention that colonialism is not yet over and does not accord Aborigines either equalityes pecially land rightsor freedom to pursue their own way of life. (September)

Library Journal

Morgan is 15 when she discovers that she is not white but aboriginea fact that has been kept secret because of society's stigma. Rather than tell the children about their heritage, her mother and grandmother have let them believe early ancestors emigrated to Australia from India. The teen-aged Morgan, having been an indifferent student at best, throws herself into her studies and then single-mindedly embarks on a search for her roots. Her quest is hampered by her grandmother's refusal to discuss the past but helped by an elderly great uncle, who is an accomplished raconteur, and leads her to the past and to other people. Morgan is a gifted storyteller, and this story is sad, triumphant, hilarious, and sensitive. For all public library collections. Joan Hinkemeyer, Englewood P.L., Col.