by Tina Shaw
Nanna walks on one side of me, her hand on my shoulder. My father – free at last! – walks on my other side, holding Babet’s hand. Every now and then Papa gives me a look, as if he can’t believe he’s here either. He’s a bit grizzled and there are scars on his hands, but otherwise he’s the Papa I remember from before the wild camp. Jorzy limps along behind with the aid of a walking stick. People come to their doorways and watch us pass. Faces peer down from grimy windows. Figures slip in behind to join what is obviously a sombre procession. Boots on cobbles are the only sound.
The cart is heavy, though I barely notice; the stinging ache in my hands and arms is nothing to the darkness in my mind. I want to weep, but I’ve done so much weeping that my eyes are now dry.
Yet I remind myself that Ma hasn’t died for nothing. Her actions set the revolution in motion. And already, Ursa is changing. Certain factories have stopped work. The men in the wild camps have been set free. The Director has fled the city and it is rumoured he has returned, injured, to his native Rocheford.
At the gates to the cemetery, I stop, gasping for breath. The thought of the black earth makes me pant with fear and spots dance before my eyes.
Papa squeezes my arm, his eyes filled with sadness. “Leho, do you want me to take over?”
Glancing up, dazed, I don’t know if I can do this: bury my mother.
“Look behind you,” says Papa.
The street is filled with people. They hold their hats, a few heads are bowed, women are openly weeping, and they fan out across the street. Hern is coming towards us. There are other people we know. They’re patiently waiting. There may be quiet prayers at the graveside, then later we will go back to the building and sing songs, swap stories and share the bottle of sherry that Marta Gayer left with Nanna.
Hern reaches my side with a sad smile. “See what she meant to them,” he murmurs.
Yes, I nod. The faces of the people who loved my mother give me strength. I turn back to the cart and continue on through the iron gates.
Acknowledgements
I’m very grateful to the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust and all involved who honoured me with the Storylines Tessa Duder Award so that this book could have wings.
Gratitude must also go to everyone at Walker Books Australia who saw the potential in my manuscript and helped me make it shine.
Tina Shaw has written several books for young people. In 2010, About Griffen’s Heart was a Storylines Notable Book and was short-listed for the LIANZA Children’s Book Awards. Her other publications for younger readers include the fantasy novels Into the Hinterland and its sequel Dogs of the Hinterland, and the YA novel Make a Hard Fist. Ursa, the winner of the 2018 Storylines Tessa Duder Award, is her first novel with Walker Books Australia.
Ursa is the winner of the Storylines Tessa Duder Award for Young Adult Fiction sponsored by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd.
First published in 2019
by Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd
Locked Bag 22, Newtown
NSW 2042 Australia
www.walkerbooks.com.au
This ebook edition published in 2019
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
Text © 2019 Tina Shaw
Cover illustration © Walker Books Australia Pty Ltd.
Cover illustration by Sarah Davis
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher.
A Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the National Library of Australia catalogue.
ISBN: 9781760651275 (ePub/mobi)
ISBN: 9781760651268 (ePDF)