In September 1883, the South Australian town of Fairly huddles under strange, vivid sunsets. Six-year-old Denny Wallace has gone missing during a dust storm, and the whole town is intent on finding him.

As they search the desert and mountains for the lost child, the residents of Fairly – newlyweds, landowners, farmers, mothers, artists, Indigenous trackers, cameleers, children, schoolteachers, widows, maids, policemen – explore their own relationships with the complex landscape and unsettling history of the Flinders Ranges.

The colonial Australia of The Sun Walks Down is unfamiliar, multicultural, and noisy with opinions, arguments, longings and terrors. It’s haunted by many gods – the sun among them, rising and falling on each day that Denny could be found, or lost forever.

2023, Indie Book Awards (Australia) Fiction, Long-listed

2023, Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Short-listed

2023, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) Literary Fiction Book of the Year, Short-listed

2023, Queensland Literary Awards, Short-listed

2023, ARA Historical Novel Prize Adult, Long-listed

2023, Prime Minister's Literary Awards, Short-listed

2023, The Age Book of the Year Award Fiction, Short-listed

2024, NSW Premier's Literary Awards Fiction, Short-listed