Unsheltered

Owners and custodians of Country all throughout Australia, and their Elders past and present. I pay respect, especially, to the Whadjuk Noongar people, whose plains I was raised on, and the Arabana people, whose extraordinary country fuelled a central part of my imaginary one. ‘Kutha’ is the Arabana word for water. I’m grateful to the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation for letting me give that name to the last town before the lake.

Thank you Leon Davidson for years and years of belief, encouragement and collaboration. And for always being right about what was wrong, even when I didn’t appreciate it.

To Franka Christine, the number one storyteller in the family, for all the great ideas and all the great titles, for offering to be my publisher, for making sure I never give up.

Thank you to my father, Vincent Bartolo Moleta, for your steadfast example of the life of the mind, and your translation of Montale’s ‘A Liuba che parte’, way back at the start. And to Sophie, Gabrielle and Benedict Moleta, with my admiration and aroha.

To my supervisor and workshop convenor Emily Perkins for every single thing you said. I reckon you knew Li before I did and I was so lucky to have you on the road with me.

To my workshop whānau: Anthony Lapwood, Antonia Bale, Frank Sinclair, Kirsten Griffiths, Lynne Robertson, Maria Samuela, Mia Gaudin, Nicole Colmar and Sharon Lam, for your company and your many contributions to this pukapuka, and for the way you always get to the heart of things.

I’m grateful for the support of everyone at Te Pūtahi Tuhi Auaha o Te Ao | the IIML, and the writing community that thrives around it. Thank you most of all to Katie Hardwick-Smith for your friendship and for making 2017 possible.

My thanks to Alyson Barr and Chris and Margaret Cochran for New York Street, where I got to the end. And to Anna Smaill and Yadana Saw for good advice, early and late.

I owe a lot to my perceptive and generous early readers: Elizabeth Knox, Fergus Barrowman, Rajorshi Chakraborti and William Brandt. Particular thanks to Alison Arnold, for a structural edit that made all the difference.

Thank you to the magnificent Jenny Darling for that first phone call and every one since. I can’t wait to meet you kanohi ki te kanohi.

To Ben Ball, ngā mihi nūnui ki a koe for your faith in this story and its unknown author from across the ditch and outside the bubble. And to you and Meredith Rose for your care and attention in editing: especially all the pātai, big and small, that made things clearer.

I’m grateful to Ebony Lamb, Kate Breakey, Lisa Bailey, Sandy Cull and Stan Alley for their invaluable artistic contributions, and equally to Anna O’Grady, Anthea Bariamis, Elena Gomez, Michelle Swainson, Sandra Noakes and all at Simon & Schuster for their time, skill and manaakitanga. And a big thank you to Emily Maguire.

The fragment of lullaby Li sings to Matti and to the children on the Range is my memory of an old Welsh song ‘Ar hyd y nos’ | ‘All through the night’. The real lyrics turned out to be different from how I remember them, which is maybe also true of childhood.

Aroha mai to the many other people who have shared kupu āwhina, pūkengatanga and whanaungatanga over the last few years. He mihi tino nui ki a koutou kātoa, mo tō koutou tautoko. I hope I can thank you in person.

About the Author

Author photograph: Stan Alley

Clare Moleta was raised on Whadjuk Noongar Country in Western Australia. She now lives in Pōneke | Wellington, Aotearoa, where she was born. Unsheltered is her first novel.

www.SimonandSchuster.com.au/Authors/Clare-Moleta

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First published in Australia in 2021 by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Australia

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© Clare Moleta 2021

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9781761100758 (paperback)

9781761100765 (ebook)

Cover design by Sandy Cull, www.sandycull.com

Cover artwork by Kate Breakey: ‘Desert Cottontail’, from the series Las Sombras/The Shadows, silver gelatin photogram

Typeset in 12.5/17 pt Adobe Garamond Pro by Midland Typesetters, Australia