Sanctuary

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Sanctuary

By: Judy Nunn

Narrated by: John Derum

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About this listen

A stunning portrait of love, hope and survival on an isolated island off Western Australia. In Judy Nunn's latest compelling novel, compassion meets bigotry, hatred meets love, and ultimately despair meets hope on the windswept shores of Australia.

On a barren island off the coast of Western Australia, a rickety wooden dinghy runs aground. Aboard are nine people who have no idea where they are. Strangers before the violent storm that tore their vessel apart, the instinct to survive has seen them bond during their days adrift on a vast and merciless ocean. Fate has cast them ashore with only one thing in common...fear.

Rassen the doctor, Massoud the student, the child Hamid and the others all fear for their lives. But in their midst is Jalila, who appears to fear nothing. The beautiful young Yazidi woman is a mystery to them all.

While they remain undiscovered on the deserted island, they dare to dream of a new life...but 40 kilometres away on the mainland lies the tiny fishing port of Shoalhaven. Here everyone knows everyone, and everyone has their place. In Shoalhaven things never change. Until now....

Contemporary Fiction

Genre Fiction

Survival

Heartfelt

Most relevant

I thoroughly enjoyed this story set in my home state and in areas I visited many years ago, although the narrator's incorrect pronunciation of Western Australian place names irritated me greatly, especially as the pronunciation of the fictional island by locals versus outsiders is a point made strongly in the book! I wish narrators would research local pronunciations. Sigh. Apart from that, however, I found the narration to be excellent.
With asylum seekers such a huge topic of interest and importance in Australia and the world, Judy Nunn has brought us a tale told from all sides, helping us understand the different and ever-changing experiences and thoughts that those newly arriving on our shores have, and also those of us who have been here longer and our often widely differing views.
A group totally absent from this story is Aboriginal people, which is a glaring hole given the geographic area and topic. However, the main tussle on immigration seems to be between new and newer Australians, so this was likely a deliberate decision by the author for that reason and to keep the novel to a reasonable length.