Dimensions
137 x 209 x 20mm
The Outback has its own rules.
Some are made to be broken.
Some you have to write yourself.
When 23-year-old Pip Newling arrived in the remote West Australian town of Hall's Creek, the locals gave her twenty-four hours - tops - before she'd be back on the bus to Sydney.
But Pip stayed - and as she pulled beers, shared jokes and swapped stories with her new neighbours, she discovered a side of Australia most of us never get to see first-hand.
From the tragic to the sublime to the ridiculous, Knockabout Girl is a compelling, confronting journey into a heart of ribald darkness. Quick-witted and always ready with a grin, Pip takes us beyond the stereotypes with humour and compassion. We meet Harry, the Shakespeare-quoting prospector, and Eric, the local playboy with a frightening secret. There's Sunny, Pip's mischievous partner in crime, and Jean Paul, the fabulous French hairdresser who sees things clearly but loves them anyway. Throw in a riot, a rodeo, a couple of road-tripping nuns and you're starting to get the picture...
And beneath it all, never far from the surface, are the simmering tensions of race and sex and the unpredictable side-effects of relentless, mind-altering heat.