When Saul learns that his oldest friend Jed has died after returning from working in a remote Aboriginal community, he goes in search of answers. His only lead is Jed's ex-girlfriend, Nara, a Pitjantjatjara woman. Saul eventually finds Nara in Ininiyingi, a remote community full of extraordinary characters - Nara's son, Roopie; Kata, her father and a healer, and Thaddeus, a white man, half-hermit half-prophet. Saul and Nara struggle to find a way to grieve Jed's death and in the process Saul discovers a secret that will challenge everything he's come to believe about Jed's life. He also discovers a new possibility; of transformative engagement with both the desert and its Indigenous inhabitants that leads to a greater understanding of belonging and place...Lyrical, searching and wise, The Crying Place is a brilliant debut.
