Juliana Stolburg was a pretty child, but small. She would collect sounds and mimic them: the hollow clip-clop of horses' hooves on cobblestones, the growl of Papa's motorbike. Papa was a hero of the Resistance. His long leather coat smelled of tobacco, gin and the sea. Mama returned from the death camp at Dachau carrying a cardboard suitcase the Americans gave her.

Leaving their grand estates behind, the family sail to Australia. The buildings there are so new. But the sky is high. And there is a strange man, Philly. Juliana has a knack for languages and becomes a diplomat. She travels the world. At the end of her career, against the backdrop of drought and a crumbling marriage, she tells of what happened after the war. For herself, yes, and for all those who come after.

A novel of devastating emotional power from a mesmerising new voice in Australian fiction.