Dougy, Gracey and Angela, by James Moloney

Dougy doesn’t say much, and people think that means he’s slow. Sometimes it’s if they don’t even know he’s there. But Dougy sees and feels plenty, and when his town is torn apart by a bubbling up of racial tension, it is Dougy who digs deep to save the lives of his older sister, Gracey, and brother, Raymond.

Dougy is the viewpoint character in the first book of this marvellous trilogy which starts with the dramatic unfolding of events in Dougy before shifting to explore sister Gracey’s story as she tries to balance life far away from her home town with being part of an Aboriginal family in the country, and finally to the friendship between Gracey and her schoolmate Angela. This final book explores Gracey’s need to reconnect with her Aboriginal heritage and Angela’s struggle to understand both Gracey’s need and the broader issue of the ‘stolen generation’.

As the series progresses the issues become in some ways more complex, and the characters develop. With Dougy being the sole narrator of the first book, Dougy and Gracey sharing the narration of the second (with a white policeman also being a minor narrator), and Angela narrating the third, readers get not just to get to know each character but also witnesses their growth. Exploring issues including systemic and endemic racism, aboriginal health and mortality, deaths in custody, the stolen generations and more, these important books make thought-provoking reading.