All of her life Friday Brown has been told by her mother that all the women in her family had died from drowning on Saturday. Her mother had named her Friday and raised her on the road – mostly in the outback to try to offset that curse.  When her mother knows she is dying of cancer, she takes Friday back to her father’s house. Friday’s mother dies by drowning in the fluid built up in her body – on a Saturday.  Friday tries, but can’t stay put, and leaves her grandfather’s home. After her mother’s death she finds out who her father was and goes to the city to find him.  Locating him was not very hard, but she can’t bring herself to tell him who she is, neither does she want to return to her grandfather’s home.

After she sees a strange young boy save a child from being hit by a train (an event in which she was credited with saving the child), she tries to find him. She runs into Arden, a cross between Fagan and Jim Jones. Arden is the leader of a gang, of which the boy, Whisper, is a part. Arden rules the group with a heavy hand and will not tolerate any type of disobedience to her wishes.  Friday doesn’t always agree with Arden, and this puts Arden’s control in jeopardy. Arden burns down the house where the gang is living and takes them to the out-back to an abandoned town to live.  Some never return.

This fast-paced story is set in Australia, but the language will not be intimidating for American readers. It will hold one’s interest right to the very end. There are some language and behavior issues, but they only serve to move the story along. I recommend it for the high school library. This was published by Simon and Schuster.