Chapter summary
Part one: Brisbane (5-97)
Schoolies
1. chapter(5-15): The graduation
It is a hot day in November and the friends Gracey, an aboriginal girl, and Angela, a white girl, are at Hamiltion College to receive their graduation. Angela and Gracey know each other since year ten and they are best friends. Gracey has locked herself in the toilet while the graduation ceremony starts and Angela and her mother Cheryl come to look for her. Graceys mother died early in the semester and her brother hanged himself short after that she has only her little brother Dougy left. Because of that and because she worked for school very hard the last days she has an nervous breakdown and do not want to go to the ceremony. After Angela and her mother talk to Gracey and try to comfort her, she agrees to come with them in the assembly hall. When Gracey gets her graduation the whole hall stands up and applauds.
2. chapter(15-19): New freedom
After the graduation the girls go on schoolies week but Gracey has to leave earlier because she is invited to a special training at the Institute of Sport in Canberra. On the last evening at a beach party they talk about their plans for the future and their problems. Angela imagines to buy a car and rent a flat together with Gracey but Gracey only thinks about the problems she has with living with her Auntie Flo and with the loss of her mother and her brother.
3. chapter(19-28): holidays at Noosa
Angela comes back home from schoolies week and works all the time through christmas at Mac Donalds. On christmas Eve her grandparents visit her for a few days. On New Years Eve the family wents to Noosa for holidays. While they stay there Gracey calls her at home and leaves a message on the answering machine which is checked daily by Angelas father. Gracey feels lonely and asks for visiting Angela and to stay with her at Noosa. Angela picks her up at the train station and Gracey has another nervous breakdown because she feels very lonely and does not know where she belongs. The Institute of Sport offered Gracey a scholarship but then she would have to live with a cousin of Auntie Flo at Kingston who she had never seen. Because her mother wanted Gracey at uni studying law she agrees to live with Angela at Brisbane because it is closer to the uni.
4. chapter(28-33): Important news
The neighbour who checks the mail of Angelas family at their home calls them and informs them about a mail in which is written that Angela would visit the University of Queensland in St. Lucia studying Human Resource Management. After that Gracey calls her Auntie Flo to check her mail too and gets to know that she is going to the same campus as Angela studying Bachelor of Law. The family discusses about Gracey linving with them at Brisbane and they agree with Gracey moving in directly after the holidays. Angela also mentions that she wants to buy herself a car and her father offers her to sell her Cheryls little Corolla because he wants to buy her a new one.
5. chapter(33-35): Graceys flirt
Angela and Gracey meet two boys at a cafe in Noosa. The boys are called Rob and
Michael and they spend some time together and have fun. Angela is interested in Michael when they meet for the first time but he only has eyes for Gracey and so Angela has to arrange with Rob but they both have only feelings of friendship. Gracey and Michael kissed each other but she is not fidget to meet him again so she does not give him her phone number.Gracey tells Angela that her brother Dougy has never seen the ocean.
UQ
1. chapter(36-41): Graceys new home
When Angela, her family and Gracey arrive in Brisbane Gracey moves in but her Auntie Flo is not agreeing with her move. Cheryl writes her a letter and she realizes that it is better for Gracey to live with someone she knows and trusts. Gracey gets her own room, the one which was the guestroom before. Angela and Gracey paint it in corn-yellow to make it somfortable for her.
2. chapter(41-44): Orientation week
In February Orientation week starts and Angela and Gracey start to visit the university. They find a place where they can meet. It is a corner of a café at the university. They simply call it “the corner”. Gracey gets to know that a group for aboriginal students exists at the university.
3. chapter(44-46): Meeting new people
In the following week for bith girls lectures are starting. Graceys timetable is very heavy in comparsion with Angelas. They only have a free lesson on Friday when they can see each other at the corner. In the third week they both bring new friends to the corner who they get to know at lectures. They are called Fiona Benett and Clare Manning. Gracey goes to the group for aboriginal students and gets to know Rhonda Haines who tells her something about her experiences as an aboriginy. Gracey is very exited to know more about this.
4. chapter(46-52): First meeting with Rhonda/First meeting with Jarred
Gracey visits the unit for aboriginal students almost every day. She brings Rhonda to the corner so she can get to know Angela but the meeting did not go as she hopes. Rhonda makes jokey of Angela and Angela did not know how to react. When Rhonda leaves Angela gets to know Clares brother Jarred who asks his sister to play tennis with him like they do every Wednesday. Clare is not interested in playing tennis but Angela loves to play it and besides she is interested in Jarred. Therefore Clare gives Angela her racket and her shoes so she has not got to play with her brother.
5. chapter(52-55): Between family and friend
At the same day after lectures finished Angela and Gracey meet at Angelas Corolla and Gracey asks her to give her a lift to a race on Saturday and Angela agrees. When Angela arrives at home her brother also wants her to give him a lift on Saturday. She also agrees. On Saturday when she picks him up he tells her that she has to bring him to Ipswich which is far away. Angela is annoyed because she wanted to see Graceys race but she still gives him the lift even if she misses the race.
6. chapter(55-58): Hoping for more
The second week after this Angela is still dissapointed because Jarred did not invite her for another tennis match in the last week. She meets Gracey at the park with her friends from the aboriginal stutents group and after she was introduced by Gracey Rhonda appears and makes once more jokes about the white Angela. When Angela and Gracey meet at the corner on Friday Jarred visits her and asks her for another tennis match this week. They also arrange to meet each other on Saturday night to watch a Woody Allen film festival.
7. chapter(58-68): Graceys move
Angela and Jarred come closer to each other at the cinema. When Angela and Gracey meet at her Corolla on Wednesday Gracey tells Angela that a aboriginal girl asked her to move in her house where 2 other girls live with her. Angela is dissapointed because she thought Gracey was happy about living with her best friend. They discuss this with Cheryl and Gracey realizes that she has to get a job soon when she wants to live independent. Angela discovers that Gracey reads a lot of books about aboriginal culture and history. Gracey decides to move out but they arrange to meet every Tuesday at Angelas house. Even if Angela is not agreeing with Gracey moving out she helps her to bring her things to the new flat in Taringa where she meets Shirley, Barbara and Wendy who live there. After Gracey showed Angela the house Rhonda appears and begins to talk with Gracey about things Angela has nothing to say to. In that moment she realizes that Rhonda becomes more important for Gracey than she and she leaves the house in panic.
Sorry day
1. chapter(68-71): A job for Gracey
The gap between Gracey and Angela becomes bigger because Gracey is only interested in aboriginal history and politics and Jarred becomes more and more important for Angela. Because she has to earn money Gracey gets a job at Cafe Carlo as a waitress. Angela gets to know that there is a University championship in Sydney during the mid-year break where Jarred wants to go to.
2. chapter(71-74): Plans for Sydney
After two weeks Angela and Jarred visit Gracey at Cafe Carlo and Angela present them the idea to make the trip down to Sydney together and have fun. They both agree. The following week Gracey does not appear at the corner the whole week and Angela fells very lonely because she could not talk to somebody like she could talk to Gracey. She is scared of the new situation with Jarred and she talks about it with Fiona but it is not the same like she would talk to Gracey. When she accidentally meet her on Friday at the campus Gracey tells her she could not handle the university and her job simultaneous but she promises to meet her on Tuesday after the lectures.
3. chapter(74-82): Public meeting
Gracey and Angela meet on Tuesday and Gracey asks Angela to give her a lift to a public meeting on which Rhondas mother would speak. Angela wants to come with her to the meeting what Gracey trys to prevent but finally agrees. On the meeting in the evening at the same day also Derek Campbell speaks about how the whites took him away from his mother and then telled him she died shen he was born. This story seizes everyone. Rhondas mother tells a similar story but she regains her daugther after many years. On the meeting are also many white people and after the aboriginal people telled their storys some whites go on the stage and apologize for what was done to the Aborigines. The aboriginal organisation wants to make a protest march on National Sorry Day in two weeks on the Parliament House. After the meeting Angela drives Gracey and her aboriginal friends to Graceys home. In the car they have to sit close together because they are to much people for the little Corolla and then a boy touches Gracey where she did not want it. They discuss about the meeting in the car and the aboriginal girls are very angry about the whites only apologizing but not doing anything. Therefore Angela feels guilty and is depressed.
4. chapter(82-85): Feeling lonely
Gracey did not turn up on Friday in the corner and Angela feels increasingly lonely why she goes into Graceys old room and thinks about their friendship which is in danger to break. She wishes herself that Gracey would come back but she will not. Her mother sits down next to her and begins to talk to her about Angelas special relationship to Gracey. Angela recognizes that Gracey was a good friend for her mother too, the friend and the second daughter she never had.
5. chapter(85-89): Argument at the dinner
Gracey does not appear on Tuesday after the lectures and Jarred tells Angela that she was not at the training for some time. Angela meets her accidentaly on the campus and she looks tired. Gracey reports that the boy who touched her in Angelas car tried to rape her after she had left the car but another aboriginal guy rescued her. The following Tuesday Gracey visits Angelas family and tells them something about her political engagement but they do not take it serious. They start to talk about the stolen generation and have an argument because Cheryl has the opinion that the whites only tried to do their best to give the aboriginal children a better life. She starts to talk about Derek Campbell and Angela wonders how her mother could know so much about him. Angela has to drive Gracey home before the dinner ends.
6. chapter(89-91): Why Cheryl knows the story of Derek Campbell
On the same day Angela talks to her mother about Derek Campbell. Cheryls father knew Derek as a child and he telled Cheryl that he helped him to build up a decent life at white foster parents. He also telled her that Derek Campbel was given away by his mother voluntary because she could not take care for him anymore. Angela and her mother agree with his behaviour and think it was good to take the child away from his mother.
7. chapter(92-93): The supporter
After Angela and Jarred played some tennis on Wednesday she telks to him about her friendship to Gracey which is nearly destroyed. Rhonda builds a barrier between the two girls and her influence on Gracey gets bigger and bigger but Angela des not know what to do against it. Jarred motivates her not to give up and shows her that he supports her.
8. chapter(93-97): The crisis errupts
On the following Friday Gracey turned up at the corner and asks Angela if she believes her grandfathers story and she answers with no because she does not want to risk starting an argument. They want to go to the protest march together and they planned to meet the other girls at the mall in town. When they are there Angela wants to pick up a watch her mother had given to a jewelery store at the mall and Gracey waits in front of it while Angela picks up the watch. A member of security tries to convince Gracey to leave the place in front of the jewelery store because she is black and does not look like she want to buy something. Angela tries to help her but that
makes it only more worse and Gracey reproaches Angela for trying to colonise her.
Part two: Sydney (98-184)
Bankstown
1. chapter(98-105): Only a lift
Angela tries not to meet Gracey and Jarred gets more and more important for her. Furthermore Fiona becomes a real friend for her. Gracey calls Angela unexpected and asks her to go with her and Jarred to Sydney and she mentions that she has a new address. They have to stay at different places Jarred is going to sleep at his cousins flat in Hurstville, Angela visits her grandparents in Manly and Gracey wants to sleep at some relatives place in Bankstown. On the long travel to Sydney Gracey admits that she just called Angela to drive with her to Sydney because Dougy wants to come to their relatives in Bankstown and she needed a lift because she has no money to buy a bus ticket. When they make a break at a fast food stall Gracey is hungry but has not got enough money to buy herself something to eat and she also does not want that Angela buys her something. Because of this Angela gets very angry and throws her money on the floor without saying a word. They have travelled very long, it is dark and they are tired when they arrive in Sydney so they decide to go to Angelas grandparents place and sleep till the next day and then Angela would drive Gracey to her relatives and Jarred to his cousin. When they are at Angelas grandparents Jarred tells Angela that Gracey has all of her stuff with her and also her track shoes. He has the hope that she might take place in the championship.
2. chapter(105-116): Lift to the hospital
After they had startet the trip to Bankstown and waited a long time in the car because on the way is a lot of traffic they arrive at Graceys relatives house where a bunch of kids and Dougy welcome them. The young mother Nerida, the mother of Raymonds daughter Rayleene also lives with Auntie Irene who is the head of the family. They get into conversation and Angela agrees to drive Nerida and Rayleene to the hospital because the baby has a problem with her heart. While Nerida is in the hospital Angela and Jarred go into town and eat something until Nerida is ready to go home. Nerida has to come to the hospital again tomorrow and Angela agrees to give her another lift even if this means a lot of stress for her because of the traffic in the city. This time Dougy escorts Nerida to the hospital.
3. chapter(116-118): Start training
When Angela brings Dougy, Nerida and Rayleene back to Bankstown she meets Gracey and Jarred asks her to come with him to Homebush tomorrow to do some training. Angela agrees to give them a lift to Homebush and then wait until they are finished.
4. chapter(118-121): New conditions for Gracey
While Angela and Jarred eat in an Italian restaurant he tells her that he is very exited about coaching Graceys training because she has much talent. Jarred thinks that Angela and Gracey maybe try to forget their argument and just make a new beginning. When Angela arrives in Manly her gradnfather tells her the story of Derek Campbell her mother already telled her and he confirms that Dereks mother gave away her child voluntary. He speaks about him like he is his own child full of pride and love.
5. chapter(121-129): Reconciliation on the beach
Angela gives Jarred and Gracey a lift to Homebush and Jarred and trains hard with Gracey. When they are back in Bankstown Angela remembers that Dougy has never been to the ocean and so she offers to drive him to the beach. Gracey, Angela, Jarred, Nerida and Dougy go to the beach and have a lot of fun together. Then Gracey begins to talk to Angela about the reasons why she thinks that Angela colonised her but also makes clear that she is here because she missed Angela as a friend and do not want to lose her. Gracey also confesses that she had sex with one of her tutors because he was so much like Rhonda who she looks up to. Gracey forgives Angela but she is still angry on Cheryl because she believes a aboriginal mother would give her child away voluntary.
6. chapter(129-132): Plans for the future
When Gracey, Dougy, Angela and Jarred eat at a pizza restaurant Gracey tells Angela about her plans for the future. If she wins the race she would go to Brisbane and prepare for the sport academy and if she looses she would go back to her Auntie Flo and Dougy in Cunningham where also her mother is buried. She does not want to go back to university or her job at Cafe Carlo. Angela realizes that Gracey has a second aboriginal name which she does not know. The next morning Angela drives Jarred and Gracey to the track and then goes shopping while they train before they go home in the evening.
7. chapter(132-140): A big family
On the way to Jarred Angela takes the wrong way and ends up in a ghetto of blacks and then she picks up Jarred and drives to Bankstown. Angela does not want to drive Jarred and Gracey to the track again and so she gives Jarred the car and spends the day with Nerida taking care of Raylene. She gets to know the aboriginal warmth of a big family and begins to love Raylene like a little sister. Then Nerida gets a call from the hospital that they want to operate tomorrow when Gracey has her big race.
8. chapter(140-143): Petty jealousy
Jarred and Gracey turned up late in the evening and Angela is jealous because they make jokes she could not understand. Angela is suspicious what they did the whole day at the track together.
The Race
1. chapter(144-147): The race begins
When they are at the track and the race starts Jarred does not hope to win but he thinks that Gracey has a real chance. When Gracey did her first run the time was good but not good enough. While they are running Dougy calls Angela and tells her that the operation of Raylene is over and that she is ok. When Gracey kisses Jarred on the cheeck on the track after he had finished his last lap Angela is very jealous again.
2. chapter(147-154): Going back to Cunningham
Gracey does not want to go to the last race. She confesses that she never wanted to come back to Brisbane and that her decision is already made. She will go back to Cunningham and spend some time with her family. Gracey only took part on the race because she knew Jarred would like to train her and she also tells Angela she had already told Jarred about hr plan to go back to Cunningham. Therefore Angela is dissapointed because Gracey did not talk to her about that. Gracey reproaches Angela to be like Rhonda only that she does not want to see anything that is white and Angela does not want to see anything that is black. She begs Angela to be there for her by writing her letters and calling her but Angela does not answer. Out of this argument Angela comes out with her suspicion that Gracey and Jarred had something with each other. Gracey and Jarred leave the track and let Angela alone.
3. chapter(154-158): Talk with the grandmother
Angela goes back to Manly and goes out for a walk with her grandmother. She talks with her about her problem with Gracey and the big difficulties which were created by their different cultures. Even if she loves Gracey she could never understand her connection to the aboriginal culture and way of living because she is white and this would always be the barrier between them.
4. chapter(158-160):
The next morning Angela does not know what to do and so she calls the hospital to inform about Raylene but they do not want to give her informations so she drives to the hospital directly.
5. chapter(160-163):
At the hospital she meets the whole family only Gracey is not there because she has already left in the morning to go back to Cunningham. She gets to know that Raylene got an infection affecting her heart and that she maybe would die. Angela stays with the family the whole day but in the evening her grandmother insists on her coming to Manly for dinner.
The Gubba Man
1. chapter(164-171):
At Manly she meets Harry Falkirk who was a Gubba Man when Angelas grandfather meet Derek Campbell. He tells his side of the story and they get to know that Dereks mother did not give her child away voluntary. He threatened her to give the child away otherwise he woul have taken away all of her children. Harry never told this to Angelas grandfather and he is as shocked as Angela. Harry also tells a story about some women who lied their babys in logs because they were scared that they would been taken away by Harry but he did not want the babys and so the babys died in the logs because it was so hot that day and the women could not go back fast enough to rescue them. Consequently of this story Angela has to vomit. Angelas grandmother tells her that she invited Harry so it could happen like this. She could not hear her husband telling the wrong story anymore.
aHa
2. chapter(171-177):
Angelas grandmother tells her that one year after Derek Campbell was adopted by a white couple his mother came to her and wanted to get her son back and also telled her that Harry forced her to give her child away. Angelas grandmother called the white couple and gets to know that Angelas granfather had telled them that Dereks mother did when he was born. Angelas grandfather told him that she dies because it would have made trouble if the boy knew his mother is alive and he might have wanted to see her and then she would have had a bad influence on him. Angela begins to recognize that the aboriginal tradition and way of living is not worse than the whites but only different. Angela and her grandmother try to explain to Angelas grandfather that killing the black boy inside Derek Campbell is not better than killing his whole body. When Angelas grandfather leaves the room to realize what happened her grandmother trys to point out that Angela made the same mistake as her grandfather. She loves Gracey so intensive that she wants the best for her but the best for her is not the white way of living but the black way of living even if Angela could not understand this. Angelas grandmother only invited Harry because she does not want to let Angela making the same mistake as her grandfather and think that what she did was good.
3. chapter(177-179):
Angela goes to the hospital again where she talks to Dougy who tells her that Raylene is still the same. The whole family sleeps in the waiting room and Dougy invites Angela to come with him inside where she also falls asleep.
4. chapter(180-184):
In the morning Jarred appears and apologizes for his behaviour. He also confesses that he had kissed Gracey on the day they where alone on the track. He protests that she only needed some tenderness and he only kissed her because she felt so lonely and he feels compassion for her. When he brought Gracey to the bus station in the morning she gave him a sheet of paper on which her second aboriginal name is written. This shows Angela that Gracey still trusts her and wants to rebuild their friendshp.
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