Caprice - A Stockman's Daughter

Caprice is the first book by Doris Pilkington Garimara, author of Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, now a major film. A fictional account of one woman's journey to find her family and heritage, Caprice won the 1990 David Unaipon Award for unpublished Aboriginal writers. Set in the towns, pastoral stations and repressive institutions of Western Australia, this story brings together the lives of three generations of Mardu women. The narrator Kate begins her journey with the life of their grandmother Lucy, a domestic servant, then traces the short and tragic life of her mother Peggy. Kate was born into the institutionalised life of the Settlement, taught Christian doctrine and trained for a career as a domestic. Gradually and painfully she sheds this narrowly prescribed identity, setting out on the pilgrimage home.