India Dark

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Authors: Kirsty Murray

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BOOK: India Dark
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KIRSTY MURRAY
was born in Melbourne and lives there still, though she has tried on many other cities and countries for size. She has been a middle child in a family of seven children, a mother to three and stepmother to three more, as well as godmother and friend to many amazing people. She has loved books, stories and people all her life, and is the author of nine novels.

OTHER NOVELS
BY KIRSTY MURRAY

Vulture's Gate

Zarconi's Magic Flying Fish

Market Blues

Walking Home with Marie-Claire

Children of the Wind

Bridie's Fire

Becoming Billy Dare

A Prayer for Blue Delaney

The Secret Life of Maeve Lee Kwong

India Dark

KIRSTY MURRAY

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government
through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

First published in 2010

Copyright © Kirsty Murray 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The
Australian Copyright Act 1968
(the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or ten per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street | Crows Nest NSW 2065 | Australia
Phone
(61 2) 8425 0100 |
Fax
(61 2) 9906 2218
Email
[email protected] |
Web
www.allenandunwin.com

Cataloguing-in-Publication data available from the
National Library of Australia –
www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au

ISBN 978 1 74175 858 0

Teachers' notes available from
www.allenandunwin.com

Cover and text design by Ruth Grüner
Cover image: Jupiterimages / Getty Images (girl), Wiki Commons (building),
belterz / iStockphoto(decoration)
Set in 10.5 pt Sabon by Ruth Grüner
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

For Jocelyn Ainslie,

an angel at our table who always

holds the right thought

CONTENTS

1
The betrayal

2
Trust

3
Fallen flower

4
The pivoting moment

5
The Lilliputians

6
A dream unspoken

7
Hold the right thought

8
Rehearsing the future

9
Setting sail for Lilliput

10
Locked doors

11
Runaway girls

12
Abracadabra

13
Sisters

14
Spinning across the Arafura Sea

15
The puppet spirit

16
Loving Lizzie

17
Heads and tails

18
The inquisition

19
Cabin fever

20
Little piggies

21
Dancing on a watery grave

22
Playing favourites

23
Stagedoor Johnnies

24
Boy magic

25
Tyger, Tyger

26
Whipping girl

27
The show must go on

28
White slaves

29
Across the Bay of Bengal

30
Bread and water

31
Mesmerism

32
A moment in time

33
Swadeshi

34
Ways of seeing

35
The streets of Calcutta

36
Under the seats

37
Death and the invisible river

38
Sweet sixteen

39
Strangers on a train

40
Naked truths

41
Between the cracks

42
Kiss Miss 1909

43
La Poupée

44
Council of war

45
Serenading the sahibs

46
Shared secrets

47
The gathering storm

48
Dark magic

49
Promises and half-truths

50
Strike

51
Rising stars

52
Taking charge

53
The caged bird's song

54
Happy ever after

55
Sorcerer's apprentice

56
Beneath the banyan

57
The trial

58
The way back

59
Escaping Lilliput

Epilogue

Author's Note

Anglo-Indian words

Acknowledgements

Maps of the Lilliputians' journey through South-East Asia
and across India are on the inside covers

The Cast and Crew
of Percival's Lilliputian Opera Company
I
N THE PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME

INDIA DARK:

Or

P
OESY'S ADVENTURES
AMONGST THE LILLIPUTIANS

PEOPLE IN THE PLAY

I
N STARRING ROLES

Miss Poesy Swift................. Aged 13 years
Miss Tilly Sweetrick................... 15 years

F
EATURING

Master Charlie Byrne.................... 13 years
Miss Eliza Finton......................... 18 years
Master Lionel Byrne..................... 14 years
Miss Tempe Melbourne................. 17 years
Miss Ruby Kelly........................... 17 years
Miss Clarissa Holden.................... 17 years
Master Freddie Kreutz................... 14 years
Master Max Kreutz....................... 14 years
Miss Valentine Percival (Usher)...... 14 years

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