The Sound

The Sound is set in the 1820s, in the violent and lawless world just before the English established colonial law in Western Australia. It is a historical fiction about the men of many nations who made their way across the southern waters of Australia from Tasmania to WA, plundering seal colonies, and stealing women and children from indigenous communities as they went. It follows the journey of Wiremu Heke of Aramoana, who begins his journey on the quest to avenge the destruction of his village, but ends it older, wiser, and looking at the world in an entirely different way.

Sarah Drummond lives on the south coast of Western Australia. She is the author of Salt Story: of sea-dogs and fisherwomen, a memoir and social history of commercial estuarine fishers. In 2014, Salt Story was longlisted for the Dobbie Literary Award and shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards. The Sound is her first novel.