A beautiful story about friendship, change and our place in nature, from legendary Australian author Gary Crew.
'Are you lonely here?' her mother asked.
'Never,' Alice said. 'Not while I am friends with the lyrebird.'
Alice has spent her life living on the outskirts of a small town, in a house nestled in bushland. Every other morning, she is visited by a lyrebird. Her bond with this magnificent bird brings her together with her nearest neighbour, Mr Brown, a widower who loves the bush and its treasures as much as she does.
But change is coming: Alice is growing up, and having to think about her future (a future which might mean leaving the bush for her education). Mr Brown is getting older, and less able to look after himself. And as the nearby town grows, their beloved lyrebird and bushland are threatened too.
A touching story that will resonate with readers everywhere, stunningly illustrated with woodcuts by acclaimed artist Julian Laffan.
GARY CREW is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He has won the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year four times and his readers have come to expect shadowy, surprising, incredible stories that must be read, and read again.
STEVEN WOOLMAN (1969-2004) completed a degree in Design and Illustration at the University of South Australia in 1990 and was always fascinated by bizarre fantasy. For the illustrations in The Watertower, his fifth published book, he used a combination of acrylic paint and chalk and pencil on black paper.