The international best-selling author of Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton returns with a glorious novel destined to become another Australian classic.

"A glinting, big-hearted miracle of a book." (Richard Glover)

"A work of shimmering originality and energy, with extraordinary characters and a clever, thrilling plot...unputdownable." (Sydney Morning Herald)

Darwin, 1942, and as Japanese bombs rain down, motherless Molly Hook, the gravedigger's daughter, is looking to the skies and running for her life. Inside a duffel bag she carries a stone heart, alongside a map to lead her to Longcoat Bob, the deep-country sorcerer who she believes put a curse on her family. By her side are the most unlikely travelling companions: Greta, a razor-tongued actress, and Yukio, a fallen Japanese fighter pilot. The treasure lies before them, but close behind them trails the dark. And above them, always, are the shimmering skies.

A story about gifts that fall from the sky, curses we dig from the earth, and the secrets we bury inside ourselves, All Our Shimmering Skies is an odyssey of true love and grave danger, of darkness and light, of bones and blue skies. It is a love letter to Australia and an ode to the art of looking up – a buoyant, beautiful, and magical novel, abrim with warmth, wit, and wonder.

"Dalton is an author of 19th-century expansiveness, one with a sense that intelligence, talent for characterisation and sheer narrative brio can still be the whole cloth of the writer's ambition.... It is storytelling manna, fallen straight from the Territorian skies." (The Australian)

"As Australian as outback red dirt and as universal as the sky young Molly Hook's journey takes place beneath, All Our Shimmering Skies is an open-hearted wonder, by turns heartbreaking and full of hope, no less than an instant classic." (Venero Armanno)

"Australia has a new literary hero. Molly Hook – part Cordelia, part Jo March, part Pippi Longstocking – pulls us into a story and a landscape that is mythic, beguiling and almost hallucinatory in its beauty. And instantly recognisable as our own." (Kristina Olsson)

"This is storytelling at its absolute purest, a truly courageous expression of longing, hope and love…against unimaginable odds." (Asher Keddie)

"All Our Shimmering Skies is the follow-up to Boy Swallows Universe we could have never imagined, but the one Dalton was destined to gift us. It's a story of heroes and villains, foxes and water buffalo, fighter planes and birds of prey, real magic and real love, epitaphs and aphorisms, lost treasure and lost life. It's a love letter to the nation. It's your favourite childhood adventure story dictated by Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and William Shakespeare, with a score by Franz Liszt. It's dead serious. It's completely ridiculous. It's all of these things and more." (Booktopia)

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Product details

Listening Length	15 hours and 10 minutes
Author	Trent Dalton
Narrator	Ruby Rees
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	28 September 2020
Publisher	HarperAudio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B0821S8RXB
Best Sellers Rank	59 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 1 in World War II Historical Fiction 2 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) 7 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)

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Top reviews from Australia

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Aitchempee

Disappointing.

Reviewed in Australia on 25 October 2020

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A tough task to follow up such a stunning debut novel, but for me this one fails to engage. I struggled with the ridiculous story line, a lot of nonsense, excruciating and unbelievable coincidences, weird twists in the plot - really, those tin miners? The cave inhabiting drugged zombies? Not credible. Their relevance, really.?.. A baby falling from the sky? How long exactly were they travelling through all this amazing country (and I will give credit to the beautiful word artistry in describing the scenery) and how far did they go - with Greta all the while in her silly shoes. The timeline was vague and their journey not believable. Sorry, but was hugely disappointed. I thought it all a bit silly.

6 people found this helpful

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Lisa Bacon-Hall

This story shines.

Reviewed in Australia on 8 October 2020

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A beautiful story, a journey for everyone to take with the incredibly brave Molly Hook. Her voice is powerful and there is much to love about the main characters. Trent’s writing is poetic and he has a lovely way of telling a story. It also illustrates how amazing our outback is and how it is and always will be the aborigines land. This story touched my heart, and I’m sure it will always stay there....it has a touch of magic!

5 people found this helpful

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stuart mcarthur

A very self-conscious second novel, aware of an expectant world

Reviewed in Australia on 2 December 2020

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I loved Boy/Universe and think it’s one of the best Australian novels I’ve read.

But Dalton’s second novel lacks its authenticity. BSU was gritty and raw and the mysticism perfectly balanced the earthiness. Maybe its autobiographical aspects were more vital than I realised.

Because his second novel underplays the relatable and ramps up the mystical, and you can see him trying on every page. After a while his affectatious references to the gravedigger girl, and the silver screen lady and the pilot who fell from the sky, and the elliptical conversations with the sky, and the run molly run, and the ludicrousness of 13yo uneducated Molly’s precocious knowledge of Walt Whitman and bush survival tips, and Yukio’s lack of English but word-perfect recall of Shakespearean dialogue, and the simplistic “hate” that served as explanation for all the bad guys’ behaviour, was all too much.

Add in Longcoat Bob, a bunch of inhuman lepers, a baby who falls from the sky, in fact all the “sky gifts”, a cave mouth shaped like a vagina for comic relief, and rambling unedited mythologising, and I thought Dalton was trying way too hard, even fearfully, to up the trajectory from his first hugely entertaining and truthful book.

Unfortunately also, the liberal too-clever splashes of “if you don’t master your fear, your fear will master you” “are you carrying the load or is the load carrying you?” eventually diluted down to formulaic pretentiousness.

Dammit, I was so looking forward to it as well. Maybe that was Dalton’s problem.

One person found this helpful

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beverley

An Australian novel like no other

Reviewed in Australia on 22 October 2020

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Molly Hook is bound to be as well remembered with the deep affection Australians hold in our hearts for the 1957 silver screen imagery of the little girl in Shiralee, walking the dusty wallaby trail. And yet this gravedigger girl is like none other. She’s graceful and she’s poetic, and she’s incredibly brave.
As a bonus, the landscape and people of the Top End, which Dalton describes with amazing clarity, will have us booking our tickets to experience first hand the wonders of Darwin and its surrounds.
This is a quintessential Australian novel destined to be a classic.

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Anne

Trent Dalton has done it again!

Reviewed in Australia on 28 October 2020

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I loved Boy Swallows Universe and All Our Shimmering Skies was just as powerful. Trent is a quintessential storyteller. It was magical, poignant and uplifting. My Irish (storytelling) Father used to say "never let the truth or facts get in the way of a good story" no matter your taste in literature if you haven't read his books yet then you should. The characters and their stories will stay with you for a very long time.
Anne

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Jewels

Trent's magical mystery tour of northern Australia

Reviewed in Australia on 4 November 2020

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I've just been on a journey, no, a quest with young, courageous Molly Hook. Simply magical. The next time I visit the Northern Territory I will be looking at it through Molly's eyes. The colours, the light, the magic, the sky. Everything you can't see when you're not looking. From Brisbane to Darwin, Trent's words are sheer poetry describing my own country like one I've never seen before. I loved Eli Bell's story and was whisked away to another world with Molly Hook. I can't wait for Trent's next magical mystery tour!

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Helen Postle

Cracking read! ended too soon :-(

Reviewed in Australia on 3 November 2020

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This was an excellent account of the bombing of Darwin and how it must of felt to be there at the time. There are many references to the tenacity of human spirit throughout the book some coming from the most unexpected characters considering the setting. The era is full of superstition and early australian folklore and these things make for very colourful reading. I felt that i was on a magic carpet ride through the beauty of the northern territory and then the end came - this was my disappointment - it could easily lead to a sequel and I hope it does as i became so engrossed in the characters that i wanted to see what happened next. It was like going back to work after a great holiday. Keep up the good work Trent. Its a book for all ages from teenagers through to 100!

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Tim McQueen

Some lovely imagery, but some brutality.

Reviewed in Australia on 19 January 2021

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This book was almost brilliant. However Dalton was guilty of "over-egging the pudding". The descriptions of every leaf and light shade change became tiring, and I actually did skim some of the book - it was too much. But as I got the end I loved it - it seemed that the over blown writing simmered down, and it became the charming story it should have been all the way through. really good, but not as brilliant as it should have been.

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Laura

I loved this book!

Reviewed in Canada on 8 December 2020

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I loved his first book Boy Swallows Universe and couldn't wait for this to come out in the US so I ordered it from afar and it was worth every extra penny and more! Nice work Trent Dalton! My husband is loving it right now. What a great talent to write such heartfelt, beautiful depth of characters and brilliant (don't bother me I am reading a Trent Dalton) storyline. Bravo!

Debbie Sherr

Disappointing new Trent Dalton book.

Reviewed in the United States on 4 November 2020

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After loving 'Boy Swallows Universe' I purchased Trent Dalton's new book 'All our Shimmering Skies'. What a disappointment. The book starts well and the central character 'the gravedigger girl' has a very difficult life. However, her long journey later in the book meanders endlessly. I would have given up reading at several points but felt that surely there must be something about to happen... I wonder what others thought..

Amazon Customer

Good yarn but not really historical fiction

Reviewed in the United States on 23 October 2020

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Loved the storytelling, the underlying triumph of good over evil and some gritty characters. Was expecting stronger ties to the historical attack on Darwin but really this was coincidental to the tale, which I felt bordered on fantasy - especially the injection of the Japanese fighter pilot. A very enjoyable read nonetheless.

Wellington NZ

Different and well-written

Reviewed in the United States on 16 January 2021

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A good story, well told.

Descriptions are evocative without being maudlin. Characters are sympathetically and realistically developed.

An enjoyable and thought provoking read; one that will linger in the memory.

J A dickson

So beautifully crafted

Reviewed in the United States on 24 December 2020

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At times a gruelling read but un-put-downable. Beautifully written and ultimately a wonderful story about the power of human hope and resilience and humanity

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