The Trespassers

Fleeing their pandemic-stricken homelands, a shipload of migrant workers departs the UK, dreaming of a fresh start in prosperous Australia. For nine-year-old Cleary Sullivan, deaf for three years, the journey promises adventure and new friendships; for Glaswegian songstress Billie Galloway, it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake firmly behind her; while impoverished English schoolteacher Tom Garnett hopes to set his future on a brighter path. But when a crew member is found murdered and passengers start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast is plunged into chaos. Thrown together by chance, and each guarding their own secrets, Cleary, Billie and Tom join forces to survive the journey and its aftermath. The Trespassers is a beguiling novel that explores the consequences of greed, the experience of exile, and the unlikely ways strangers can become the people we hold dear.

Meg Mundell is a New Zealand-born writer and academic based in Melbourne. Her first novel, Black Glass, was shortlisted for two Aurealis Awards, the Barbara Jefferis Award and the Norma K. Hemming Award. She is the author of the story collection Things I Did for Money, and her fiction, essays and journalism have been widely published, including in Best Australian Stories, Meanjin, The Age, The Monthly, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and Australian Book Review. Meg is also the editor of the forthcoming anthology We Are Here: Stories of Home, Place and Belonging (Affirm Press), a collection of writings by people who have experienced homelessness.