The Belburd

From the award-winning author of Song of the Crocodile comes a lyrical and masterfully woven novel about women, creation, belonging and the precious fragility of a life.

'Mothers are experts at overflow . . . You may forget the words or kisses or gifts they give but that doesn't mean they didn't happen . . . We don't need to remember all the love poured into us. We need to be thankful that it makes us. When it comes to love, it's all about being. Not remembering so much.'

Ginny Dilboong is a young poet, fierce and deadly. She's making sense of the world and her place in it, grappling with love, family and the spaces in which to create her art. Like powerful women before her, Ginny hugs the edges of waterways, and though she is a daughter of Country, the place that shapes her is not hers. Determined and brave, Ginny seeks to protect the truth of others while learning her own. The question is how?

And, all the while, others are watching. Some old, some new. They are the sound of the belburd as it echoes through the world; the sound of cars and trucks and trains. They are in trees and paper and the shape of ideas. They are the builder and the built. Everything, even Ginny, is because of them.

The Belburd is a powerful story that shows us we are all connected from before we began to long after we begin again.

'The most beautiful montage of life and death . . . The Belburd will leave you with a lasting appreciation of place, nature and life itself' BOOKS+PUBLISHING

'A lyrical and haunting exploration of the mystery of being' BRISBANE TIMES

'Poetic. Profound . . . An astonishing read' THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY

'A tremendous feat of imagination . . . Indelible' THE GUARDIAN

'With a lyrical mastery only further cultivated since her debut, Simpson finds the sublime in the quotidian, elevating experiences (as base as being born or dying, as complex as grief or motherhood) to an art form' READINGS

'Braids a contemporary setting with cultural storytelling in a lyrical and aesthetic journey. The Belburd skilfully draws readers into its creative banquet' WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

'Simpson is a lyrical, magical weaver of words' ARTSHUB

Praise for Nardi Simpson's Song of the Crocodile

'Exquisite . . . Simpson explores the enduring legacy of violence and racism in a narrative enriched by beautiful descriptions of the landscape' SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

'Simpson's writing attains a rare quality of grace, the prose lyrical and grounded at the same time . . . skilfully weaving the profound into the eve