Red Dust Running

By: Anita Heiss

Narrated by: Shari Sebbens

After a disastrous relationship effectively torches her personal and professional life in Sydney, Annabelle is back in Brisbane. She’s about to start her dream job launching and curating a First Nations gallery in the city, and this time, nothing is getting in the way of her important work. Certainly not romance. Matters of the heart have always turned out to be a surefire way to make Annabelle run for the hills – literally.

Everything is going to plan until a birthday trip to the rodeo with her tiddas brings Annabelle up close and very personal with Dusty Davies, bona fide cowboy. It’s just a country fling, obviously. Annabelle’s not built for the rodeo life, and she’s certainly not spending any more time than necessary in the red dust and cowboy boots. Dusty doesn’t take art and activism seriously like Annabelle does; and he’s born and bred on country, and looks set to stay that way.

Opposites may attract, but how much change and compromise can you make before you’re running from yourself?

Cover artwork by Rachael Sarra.

©2023 Anita Heiss (P)2023 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

Well done down under!

A well performed tale of the modern day life of an aboriginal 30ish empowered woman.

Great Story with a lesson

I enjoy books, I really enjoy books and this story did not disappoint. I wish the narration was better but overall the story made listening to the so worth it!

Not very good

I really tried to like this story. The Ausie lingo evades me. I feel like the author should have explained the lingo better. Also, the story drags. I am actually really bummed by wasting my time.

Delightfully rendered romp with a message

Great way to begin to understand first people’s culture through a fun chic lit/choc lit story. Listen to Heiss’s TedX talk to understand where this amazing author/scholar is coming from. Please record more of her works and share with an international audience!

To much socialite activism!

2.75 Stars for me

The story started off well but the author would periodically go on activist rants. The main reason that this is a problem is that the group of ladies in the story were all talk. Her friends treated the Cowboy H as if he was dirt on the ground yet he was kind and treated the h well. The h does go through a growing phase in the story but the activism is completely overshadowed by how the group of friends looked down on anything and everything they either didn't like or thought was beneath them.

I told a friend of mine that this story fully explains Gen Z. They only care about themselves and provide lip service to social issues while living off of other people's money. One part of the story laments the National Anthem being played because the land was stolen years earlier. What the ladies don't seem to understand is that is how it had been done for the whole of human history and in some places, it is still happening.
Spouting activism while living like a socialite seems to be at odds with reality to me.

I do not mean to be so harsh as this story could have been a lot of fun. The writing is good and there were some funny as well as endearing moments.

Very fickle

Didn’t care for this book. Too much activism for my taste. And the main character flopped very quickly. Would not recommend. Performance was good , though.

characters were well formed

Plot was very predictable and scenes only partially developed. The parts with 4 women often seemed strained

Review

Predictable. Political issues were not fleshed out but author positioned as key to the story