Sarah is sixteen. After the death of her parents, on the ship coming to Australia, she finds herself alone in a strange but fascinating new land, left to care for her baby brother, Tommy. Determined to make a new life, Sarah quickly falls in love with her home on the edge of the wilderness. Here, beside the river, she finds herself drawn towards the unknown, and into a deep and mysterious relationship with Bilu, an Aboriginal woman, and with her son Warlu. River Child is an intensely moving story of adventure, love, tragedy and courage.