Skink

This provocative novel is the story of a nine-year-old boy Daniel, who takes out his rage on a world which has sent his father away.

Daniel's mother can't read or write and is tyrannised by her own alcoholic and deeply unhappy mother, Nan. She puts everyone down but especially Daniel, accusing him of wanting to humiliate his mother by doing well at school.

Daniel's dad is sensitive and caring, but Nan thinks the bond between father and son is too close. She accuses the father of sexual abuse. Daniel denies this, but when no one listens he is so distressed that he just shuts up.

When his dad leaves home, Daniel blames himself. He stops learning to read and write. His mother cannot control his increasing acts of violence.

Daniel is sent to a special school. There he is befriended by a therapist, David, who's own childhood trauma provides some insight. He sees through the turmoil to what the child has lost.

Together Daniel begins his slow journey of recovery but will David, whose tenure is threatened by an unwillingness to reach an accommodation with school practices he decries, be gone before Daniel can heal?