Lady Bird & The Fox

LADY BIRD & THE FOX is the latest novel by Kim Kelly that hopes to change hearts and minds about bigotry in Australia, in all its forms, not by brow-beating the reader, but by drawing them into an unforgettable love story between two uniquely endearing people.

While this novel explores some of the history of dispossession of Aboriginal peoples across New South Wales, through its heroine Annie Bird, the broader story is told with joy and hope, and ultimately provides positive messages of cultural identity.

The story begins in 1868 as the gold rush sprawls across the wild west of New South Wales, bringing with it a new breed of colonial rogue – bushrangers. A world far removed from hardworking farm girl, Annie Bird, and her sleepy village on the outskirts of Sydney.

But when a cruel stroke of fortune sees Annie orphaned and outcast, she is forced to head for the goldfields in search of her grandfather, a legendary Wiradjuri tracker. Determined and dangerously naive, she sets off with only her swag – and is promptly robbed of it on the road.

Her cries for help attract another sort of rogue: Jem Fox, the waster son of a wealthy silversmith. He’s already in trouble with the law – up to his neatly trimmed eyebrows in gambling debts. And now he does something much worse. He ‘borrows’ a horse and rides after the thieves, throwing Annie over the saddle as he goes.

What follows is a breakneck gallop through the Australian bush, a tale of mistaken identity and blind bigotry, of two headstrong opposites tossed together by fate, their lives entwined by a quest to get back home – and the irresistible forces of love.

This novel also highlights the story of the important contributions made by the small but significant Jewish community of Australia, through the hero, Jem Fox. It’s a bright thread in the Australian multicultural fabric that is not often explored.

Kim wrote most of this novel as she waited to donate a kidney to her husband, while he was acutely ill. For Kim, it was a case of, ‘What do I want to be caught writing if I die?’

The personal motivations behind the story were Kim’s search for her own Jewish heritage, as well as the heritage of her closest Aboriginal friends, and a quest to understand the Aboriginal history of New South Wales more deeply.

Read the interview with Kim Kelly on self-publishing Lady Bird & The Fox

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Lady Bird & The Fox is out now.