The Shepherd’s Hut

2020 Longlist

Jaxie dreads going home. His mum’s dead. The old man bashes him without mercy, and he wishes he was an orphan. But no one’s ever told Jaxie Clackton to be careful what he wishes for.

In one terrible moment his life is stripped to little more than what he can carry and how he can keep himself alive. There’s just one person left in the world who can understand him and what he dares to hope for. But to reach her he’ll have to cross the vast saltlands on a trek that only a dreamer or a fugitive would attempt.

The Shepherd’s Hut is about solitude and unlikely friendship, about the raw business of survival, but most of all about what it takes to keep love and hope alive in a parched and brutal world.

About the Author

Tim Winton lives in Western Australia. His first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981. He has won the Miles Franklin Award four times for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize for The Riders and Dirt Music.

Librarian’s Comments

Jaxie, the innocent teenage protagonist in this Australian story, runs to the outback to escape a possible murder charge. He finds the hut of the title and fights for survival there, later finding a disgraced R.C. priest hiding in another hut. The profane youngster and the well-spoken, middle-aged priest cautiously develop a friendship and working relationship which comes to a tragic end. Jaxie runs on hoping for peace and happiness. I could not put this book down, so vividly is it written and so likeable and unforgettable is Jaxie. Vivid prose. Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek, Norway