The Yield

By: Tara June Winch

Narrated by: Tony Briggs

Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Winner of The Miles Franklin Award 2020

An exquisitely written, heartbreaking and hopeful novel of culture, language, tradition, suffering and empowerment.

Knowing that he will soon die, Albert 'Poppy' Gondiwindi has one final task he must fulfill. A member of the indigenous Wiradjuri tribe, he has spent his adult life in Prosperous House and the town of Massacre Plains, a small enclave on the banks of the Murrumby River. Before he takes his last breath, Poppy is determined to pass on the language of his people, the traditions of his ancestors and everything that was ever remembered by those who came before him. The land itself aids him; he finds the words on the wind.

After his passing, Poppy’s granddaughter, August, returns home from Europe, where she has lived the past 10 years, to attend his burial. Her overwhelming grief is compounded by the pain, anger and sadness of memory - of growing up in poverty before her mother’s incarceration, of the racism she and her people endured, of the mysterious disappearance of her sister when they were children; an event that has haunted her and changed her life. Her homecoming is bittersweet as she confronts the love of her kin and news that Prosperous is to be repossessed by a mining company. Determined to make amends and honour Poppy and her family, she vows to save their land - a quest guided by the voice of her grandfather that leads into the past, the stories of her people, the secrets of the river.

Told in three masterfully woven narratives, The Yield is a celebration of language and an exploration of what makes a place 'home'. A story of a people and a culture dispossessed, it is also a joyful reminder of what once was and what endures - a powerful reclaiming of Indigenous language, storytelling and identity, that offers hope for the future.

©2021 Tara June Winch (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"A love letter to land and language, rendering history and grief, love and home with an exquisite sensibility. At the intersection of mind and land it offers a vision of profound meaning and significance." (Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental Journey)

"A groundbreaking novel for black and white Australia." (Richard Flanagan, Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North)

"A beautifully written novel that puts language at the heart of remembering the past and understanding the present." (Kate Morton)