WINNER OF TWO NATIONAL LITERARY AWARDS TOP SELECTION FOR A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD One of the best novels in ten years. Hackney Literary Awards Committee Destined to become the next The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. For fans of Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, and Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, and viewers of “Mystery Road,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” and “Bite Club.” In this thrilling debut novel ranked alongside Pulitzer Prize winners William Styron and Horton Foote, a gripping search for a missing friend unearths the price one boy paid for brutal adoption policies. Gabriel Branch is a man displaced. Having lost his boyhood family to a government’s attempt at genocide, his emotions balance on a razor's edge. Then his best friend disappears in the vast Australian desert. The only clue is an Aboriginal artifact that leads Gabe back to the land of his birth. As he searches for his friend, long-suppressed memories resurface. Memories of the uncle who swung him up into a tree and called him Little Breeze. Memories of the mother he lost. Memories of the candy the social workers used to lure him away from his Outback home. Vast, dangerous and beautiful, The Family Made of Dust is a remarkable story about the special relationships families can treasure even when they have been broken apart...and how a spare and beautiful landscape can resurrect that which we hold so dear. Comparable titles: If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Atonement by Ian McEwan, Two By Two by Nicholas Sparks, Home by Harlan Coben, Cross the Line by James Patterson, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, and Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly. Laine Cunningham’s books are included in the fantastic fiction found on “books to read” and “good books to read” lists curated on online book review sites. Bookworms have compared her stories to bestselling books that garner recommended reading notes by bookstore employees. Browse the full selection of her fiction and nonfiction titles at Amazon books, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, and your local independent bookstore. "Ms. Cunningham shows an Australia beautiful and brutal. You know it isn't going to be a gentle ride but you're still not expecting to be kicked out of your seat onto the desert floor, rolling to a stop in the sharp-as-glass spinifex. Don't be surprised when you want to put it down but can't." Garrison Somers, Editor-in-Chief, The Blotter literary magazine "From the very beginning, we are in the hands of an exceptional writer as well as a master storyteller…and it is a rare treat to find both of those things in one place. A seamless package that explores not just the soul of her main character but the soul of a nation and its people. A truly special book." Edmund R. Schubert, award-winning author of Dreaming Creek and Editor of Tor anthologies "Written by a master storyteller, this fast-paced novel initiates Cunningham into the ranks of respected authors such as Michael Ondaatje and Sarah Gruen. A deeply felt work sure to please." Dena Harris, award-winning author "This is not an uptown homicide but one inked with shamanic intrigue and a spiritual battle of the souls." Dale Stacy, author, Diamond in the Rough "Characters so real and memorable you won’t put this book down. This book will leave its mark as one of the best stories ever to lie in our laps." Pamela King Cable, author, ALA’s 2012 Top Fiction Pick Televenge