The Water People

This is a dark and mysterious novel set in the early 1800s. Molly and Alice McPhee visit Major Walden, in his isolated country home. When Walden is called away on duty, he leaves his convict manservant, Halls, in charge. When he returns, Halls and the ladies have gone. The indigenous Dharawal the Water People offer their explanation of what happened before Molly and Alice were swallowed up by the earth. The Water People is based on news reports and anecdotes from the period, which recount how a search party was lost during violent storms on the shores of Botany Bay. They had been searching for a convict who was believed to have abducted a woman after murdering her mother. Only the convict came out of the bush manacled, exhausted and silent. He died under the lash and his secret died with him.