A Flash in the Dust by Meg Caddy
About Meg Caddy
Meg Caddy is a West Australian YA novelist with three published novels. Their first three novels, Waer, Devil's Ballast and Slipping the Noose, have been short- and longlisted for awards including the CBCA Book of the Year Award, the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the ARA Historical Novel Prize. Meg is nonbinary and asexual. They have completed an Honours degree in English/History, writing on the Golden Age of Piracy, and a PhD in Creative Writing. When they're not writing, elbows-deep in archives or chasing around their toddler, Meg plays an unhealthy amount of Dungeons & Dragons.
Contact details and socials:
Meg Caddy
About A Flash in the Dust
1899, Fremantle Asylum, Western Australia. For three years now, Gilberta Brady has kept quiet and stayed out of trouble, hoping to soon be released. But when Norah Devaney screams into the ward with revenge in her heart and a story no-one believes, Brady’s carefully guarded peace is shattered.
On the run and out of options, they collide with Malkar and Kedalak, Nyungar brothers on their own journey home. They form an unlikely gang of bushrangers and embark on a dangerous mission: track down the man who killed Norah’s mum.
But the Whistling Man is hunting them too.
Judges’ Comments:
It wasn't easy, choosing a winner from the three excellent finalists, especially as each book was so different in concept, execution, and age range. But in the end Meg Caddy’s YA novel, A Flash In the Dust, set in WA in 1899, stood out for its powerful exploration of marginalised histories, within a suspenseful and characterful story which is grounded confidently in its research. Beginning in the forbidding atmosphere of Fremantle Asylum and developing through an increasingly dangerous search for the truth about a murder, this bold, compelling historical adventure brings queer adolescents back in from the fringes of history, and is a potent reminder to contemporary readers that everyone’s lives deserve a place on the page.
Author Quote:
‘I'm humbled and thrilled to receive the ARA Historical Novel Prize in the CYA category. Thank you to the judges, and the ARA Group and HNSA for their generosity. Flash is inspired by Australian histories of queer courage, resourcefulness, and joy; it is an honour to help carry them forwards.’