Raba is a young Australian aboriginal girl who has just turned old enough to attend the white man's missionary school. But Raba is not the typical little girl, she has a special connection to the land. She is going to be the link for the people to return to Dreamtime. Dreamtime is the story of the creation of life and its meaning and of mankind's place in the world, past and present and future. (Dreamtime is the white man's term for it.)
Anyway, Raba's path is not straightforward. First, there is interference by a well-meaning missionary teacher. Then when Raba is a teen, her chosen lover is being controlled by his malignant father, who wants to keep his son for his own purposes. Tragedy then sends Raba into a mental hospital for many months. After recovery, Raba goes off to college and into the teaching profession where she runs afoul of a student who is determined to use Raba's mystical abilities for her own ends.
The first part of the story was really good and very engrossing. But the last part, where Raba is a college professor just wasn't anywhere near as interesting and Raba comes off as weak and ineffective, in my opinion.
Review from Black Gate.
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